On the other hand some individuals state the exact opposite. It’s very difficult however to fast forward an internet video which is still loading to see if it contains the appropriate details than it is to check out the contents page of an ebook. So your video must be well-crafted and get to the point right away, without any nonsense or lengthy introductions, or you will upset individuals and get a lot of refund requests, and individuals won’t be very likely to order from you again.

In a written product, individuals are a bit more forgiving, because they can page forward quickly to get at the data that they need. If you are referring to the way to design an online site, for instance, they might already know some of what you are talking about. In an eBook they can skip what they already know; in a video they can’t, because they don’t fully understand where on the video to find the part of the video that they are searching for.

Making your information products can be carried out very cheaply and easily. Your computer may currently come with a word processing program which can save a document in Portable Document Format. (pdf) If not, there are various paid choices, or you may download Open Office, that is free and works with both Macintosh as well as PC platforms. CutePDF will work with a number of Windows platforms which includes Vista. To make a video, there are a number of free and low priced programs available. Macintosh users can use imovie software, which also comes with Garageband software that would be ideal for podcasts and audio recordings. It will cost you about $79. Videospin is a free video editing program that works well with Windows XP. A lot of Windows computers include the program Windows Movie Maker, which may be all you need.

Truthfully speaking, the programs that cost money are going to have a lot more features obtainable as opposed to the free programs, but for the purposes of creating an information product, the free products are more than sufficient. Whenever you make a written information product, like an eBook or short report, you are going to want to save it both in regular format as well as in PDF, so that you can export it.

Video editing programs will help you to add in titles and transition effects to your information product creation video, like fading from one screenshot to the other. Keep in mind that if you add in transition effects it can take longer for the product to download. Don’t be anxious about making the perfect video; customers of information products don’t expect a Hollywood production. They have a problem; they need somebody to inform them how to solve it, quickly and with no distractions. They’re not searching for fancy special effects.

Have you ever taken a look at a home based business in the network marketing or direct sales sector? If the answer is yes, that’s fantastic; you have an idea of what network marketing is all about. The awesome thing about a home based business idea in network marketing is that the cost to start your business and buy into a proven system is minimal. Most home based business ideas in the network marketing sector are pretty much under $1000.00 and most are $500 or less. Now we come to the success rate of people who start businesses in the network marketing sector for under $1000. What I have noticed is that when you have not mortgaged your home and entered into a major contract with another company somehow the urgency of owning the home based business and the drive to succeed seem to diminish. Before we ever get into the various products and services available in the network marketing sector in today’s climate we have to discuss the psyche of the person wanting the freedom they are requesting. I have spoken to so many people who start out with a bang and kind of loose their gusto in 3-5 weeks. Sometimes people will last for about 4-6 months then the fire diminishes. Why is that? Well, I know one thing, if I had 50k or more invested into a home based business idea it would not take 4-6 months before I throw my life savings away. Although, since many network marketing business are under $1000, most people don’t have enough on the line to take their network marketing home based business ideas seriously enough to succeed. Let’s assume you have the drive to move past that 4-6 month mark. This seems to be the mark where unsuccessful people stop and successful people continue to push forward. Now you have to decipher if you are in the right business model for optimal success.

Most network marketing companies have traditionally been in the cosmetic, weight loss and health and wellness sectors. In recent history (the last 15 years) there has also been a big surge of technology home based business ideas also such as cell phone businesses, satellite home based business, Wi-Fi home based businesses and others. Even more recently, in the last five years to be exact, there has been a huge push in the energy efficient products and services industry.

I get excited when I think about the history already made by the first two residential energy companies to offer their services to consumers by way of the network marketing home based business model. According to Jim Melloan, project manager of the Inc. 500/5000 project Stream Energy grossed $848,000,000.00 for the year 2009. This company was founded in 2004 and officially started doing business in March of 2005 in Texas. Home based business owners are able to start a business with this company for less than $500 and are able to refer their friends and family to save money on their electricity and/or gas bills. They later expanded to Georgia in 2008 and are now expanding to Pennsylvania.

Next we have another notable company named Ambit Energy, founded in Texas in 2006; it followed Ignite’s footsteps offering the home based business idea for less than $500 in the Texas market. It soon expanded to New York in 2007 and Illinois in 2008. I know because I was part of the excitement! In 2009 the company had a record 20,369.4 percent growth with revenue at $325,000,000.00! So with these numbers in the home based business/network marketing sector you would assume there are some winners that are just like you and I, who are making a percentage of that success right? Of course there are and I witnessed this happen first hand. For under $500 in both companies, multi-millionaires were created! There are several thousandaires and many people who have found an additional income that has saved them from foreclosure, replaced car payments, paid for their children’s educations and much more!

So far I have discussed two companies with astounding numbers reported that concentrate on doing one thing, saving the average family money on their electricity bill. There’s another trend happening in the energy business. A new company called America Approved Energy Services Direct., LLC has emerged offering a home based business in the same space but with a few tweaks! For one, America Approved Energy Services Direct., LLC aka AMA Nation was founded in October 2009. Peter Jensen, Robert Gries and Scott Turner came together to offer a home based business opportunity in the network marketing sector with the product once again being residential electricity. AMA Nation started out in Connecticut, and then soon expanded to New York City. Over the last year they have have a lot more territory than the first two. Currently, America Approved Energy Services Direct., LLC is the marketing arm for several suppliers which allows them to provide this home based business idea in 8 states for opportunity seekers wishing to concentrate on the residential market which include NY, NJ, CT, MA, RI, PA, MD and TX (soon to be 9 with IL)! So with the astounding numbers posted by Ignite and Ambit in only two and three states respectively, AMA Nation will certainly shock the industry with their three-year numbers. Now here’s another shocker, by July of 2010 America Approved Energy Services Direct., LLC has also allowed their home based business opportunity seekers to acquire business in the commercial sector of energy deregulation as well. Opportunity seekers looking for home based business ideas are also able to do business in 15 states on the large commercial side of energy deregulation. So when it comes to energy deregulation, America Approved Energy Services Direct., LLC now has the largest footprint in the industry. By August of 2010, America Approved Energy Services Direct., LLC also added over 200 energy efficient products and services to its repertoire allowing home based business owners to also make money in other emerging markets such as solar panels, Led Lighting retrofits and much more. The most impressive factor in all of this is that you have the income potential of a major franchise in a network marketing business model for less than $225. So many people are recouping their initial investment within the first week of being self-employed in the energy business.

My team and I have been getting many ideas about how to build our business from local news happening around the world! For instance, the article titled All Agua Fria high schools will have solar panels written by AZ Central.com on 16, 2011 at 07:30 PM gave us the idea to start calling the schools our children attend to discuss the energy saving options and grants available. Another article written by LehighValleyLive.com discussed how IKEA Aims to Extend Solar Power Trend to Costa Mesa which gave us the idea to start going after department stores and restaurants in the California area. So with AMA Nation, my team of independent home based business owners and I have found this business model to be much more lucrative because we are able to tap into the entire energy efficient products and services industry.

An online forum is a way to hold an ongoing discussion by multiple users over time. The term has also been used when referring to the software application that creates the forum. Other names for an online forum are message boards, discussion groups, forums, and electronic bulletin boards.

The predecessors to online forums were the internet newsgroups and dial-up bulletin board systems, which were accessed by dialing a specific number. Online forums have a unique sense of community that is very different from that of a blog or website, and have regular devoted members. Today’s online discussion groups are focused on a variety of areas from politics and technology to dog training. Many established online forums are actually a group of smaller forums that are grouped around a central theme. For example, a dog training forum could have smaller forums covering large dogs, small dogs, Labrador retrievers, German shepherds etc.

Online Forum Software features

A discussion that is held in a forum is called a thread. Some online forum threads can be a one or two comments long to multiple pages of comments and replies going back several months or even years. The threads will remain on a forum indefinitely or until a moderator removes them. Many of the more popular threads become what is known as a “sticky” or a permanent forum entry. Sticky’s are usually the result of a large number of forum members asking the same question over time. By posting a sticky, this eliminates the need for the same question being asked repeatedly. One of the most common stickys’ found are usually the forums posting rules.

Today’s forum software will allow more than one forum to be created which act as a discussion room focused on a specific area of a larger topic. These individual rooms contain the threads started by the various group members. You can compare the structure of a forum to a school. Each room covers a different topic, i.e. math, English etc. and the school structure holds each of these classes in one building. Online discussion forums are structured in much the same way.

Forum software can be grouped into two general categories. The type that allows visitors to make anonymous posts and the type that requires visitors to be registered in order to view or make a comment to a forum thread.

The type that requires a visitor to register usually only requires a valid email address in order to join the online discussions going on within the forum. Some additional features of this type of forum software may allow for personalization of the forum skin, signatures and/or the users’ avatar or image associated with their username. The forum software that allows anonymous posts usually does not allow any type of customization to the user interface.

Forum software applications are available in a wide range of programming languages like PHP, JAVA and Perl. There are different features available and depend on the type of programming language used and whether the posts are stored as text files or database entries. The features available range from the basic text-only to the use of things such as emoticons, which are little smiley face type, images that can be inserted to a post.

Some online forum software packages allow administrator to setup filters and automated scripts that will remove any undesirable words such as cursing, or strip any hyperlinks placed within a forum thread. This helps to prevent abuse of the discussion group.

Discussion Group Administrators and Moderators

The administrator of an online forum has privileges that no other member should have. Some of those privileges allow administrators to edit, delete, move or modify any thread on the forum. Forum administrators also have the ability to close the board, make major changes to the forum such as changing the forum theme, add or delete discussion groups or sub forums within the main forum as well as remove, add to or ban members from the forum.

Moderators are usually given privileges by the administrators and are usually delegated the responsibility to oversee or “moderate” specific forum areas or topics. The moderators of a discussion group help the forum administrator by editing, deleting, and moving threads as needed. They also act as hall monitors warning members for any offenses to the forum posting guidelines. The presence of responsible moderators can enhance the quality of an online forum.

Online Forum Users

The members of any online discussion group usually have the same basic abilities. They can make comments or posts into existing discussion threads, start new threads, and assign an image or avatar to be posted with their name. Depending upon the forum software, users may also be able to send and receive emails or personal/instant messages from other forum members. Members can also create their individual forum signature where they can add a link back to their personal website if they wish. This practice also leads to abuse by members making multiple posts just to increase the number of links to their website.