Skype Lets You Make Free Phone Calls Online

Everywhere you turn phone companies offer 3 or 5-cent long distance phone calls, or even unlimited long distance for a flat fee monthly. Now you can make reliable calls using the Internet for anywhere from 0 to 2.3-cents per minute. Welcome to Skype, the Internet telephony company that has set the traditional telephone world on its ear. Recently purchased by Ebay for 2.6 billion dollars, Skype stands ready to revolutionize worldwide voice communication simply because they enable you to carry on crystal clear voice communication with anyone else in the world with a either a phone or Internet connection. What's the catch you ask? Well, to make phone calls, you need a computer, a microphone, speakers, a modem, an Internet connection and the free Skype software you can download from www.skype.com To make a free phone call, you need someone on the receiving end with a computer, Internet connection, and the Skype software installed. To make a call from your computer to a land-based phone virtually anywhere in the world, you must pre-pay for calling minutes in blocks of 10 Euros (approximately $12 U.S.). One block of calling minutes gets you about 500 minutes of calling time, or a little over 8 hours of talking time. Skype uses a technology called IP telephony. IP telephony first appeared commercially back in the lat 1990's with services like Dialpad.com, which initially offered phone calls from computers to land-based phones in exchange for watching online advertising. This model soon failed, but the thought of making ultra-cheap phone calls through a computer did not. And, as the recent mega sale of Skype reveals, a market now exists that can put Internet telephony to work on a grand scale, or at least large enough to make eBay pony up with a lot of cash and stock to give it a try. Once you install the software, you log onto the service and can make phone calls to other Skype users through their computers at no charge. You can set up a call list, much like an instant messaging "buddy list" so with a couple clicks of the mouse you can ring your friends up for a chat. Or, if you pre-pay for calling minutes, you can enter in the country code and phone number of your pals, click a button, and their phone or cell phone will ring. Skype also allows you to hold conference calls with up to 4 other people at the same time, making it easy to hold group meetings. Skype includes a group chat feature which allows you to hold a group chat session with up to 48 other people at the same time... excellent for "webinars" or even planning that next family reunion. Skype also allows you to transfer files to and from other users, perfect for sharing photos, music and short video clips with your pals. Tip: Get a good headset microphone. It makes using the service more enjoyable and also eliminates the echo created by your own speakers feeding back into your PC's microphone. Author Bio Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and co-author of an amazing program that teaches you how to use free articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website, affiliate links, or blogs... without spending a dime on advertising! www.turnwordsintotraffic.com

How To Create The Ultimate Small Business Marketing System In 7 Simple Steps

 Let me get right to the point. The single most powerful small business marketing tool on the planet is a marketing system.
But, when I talk about a marketing system I am not referring to those academic exercises found in college marketing books.
A marketing system by my way of thinking is a simple (in many cases one page) document that specifically answers who you are, what you do, who needs it, how you plan to grab them by the throat, when you plan to do it and how you plan to pay for it.in a way that everyone in your organization, network, and client base can clearly understand.
So, let's break it down into some simple steps.
1) Narrow Your Focus - create a description of your ideal client. Describe them as though they are sitting across the desk from your at this moment. Define only the market that you know needs what you offer and values what you have to offer. It is just as important to understand who you don't want as a client.
2) Find and Communicate Your Core Difference - Even if your make it up, you've got to find something that makes your business stand out from the pack. Once you do, you've got to build your entire marketing program around this difference. Is it red trucks, is it an unheard of guarantee, is it a very specific market niche. You can't stand out trying to be all things to all people.
3) Package Your Business - Look for ways to build your unique difference into the experience your client or prospect has with your firm. Everything about your firm should communicate and deliver your unique promise. Package your services as products, communicate your unique process, name your service offerings.
4) Educate - Throw away the sales brochures and create marketing materials and web site content that clearly speaks to your ideal client and gives proof that your indeed uniquely qualified to solve their problems. Create case studies, testimonial sheets, client lists, process description, service descriptions, the story of why you started your business.
5) Install the Lead Generation Trio - Advertising that generates permission, public relations that provide proof and referral systems that guarantee trust. Each of these three lead generating tactics works hand in hand to create a non stop flow of highly qualified leads.
6) Automate and Dominate - Once you start to create a flow of leads let technology do the heavy qualifying and selling for you. Ezines, email, blogs, web sites, white paper delivery, subscription lists - all must be automated in order to most effectively communicate as consistently as is necessary in today's advertising message onslaught.
7) Live by a Calendar - Create the system and then work the system. Do whatever you must to make sure that you do at least one marketing activity every single day. Create a monthly calendar and give each month a marketing system theme. Get everyone in your organization involved - put the calendar in a very public place.
Author Bio
John Jantsch is a marketing coach and creator of Duct Tape Marketing. You can find out more about the Ultimate Marketing System at: www.ducttapemarketing.com/Ultimate-Marketing-System.htm