Learning to Soundproof a Basement

Soundproofing a basement doesn’t just mean making it a quiet place in your house to go. After all, if you’re looking for a nice place in your home to unwind, the basement probably isn’t the first place on your list to go. Usually, there are a lot of things in a basement that make noise. Washer, dryer, hot water heater and noisy pipes are just a few sounds that can find their way from your basement into the rest of your home. No matter how you look at it, soundproofing your basement to keep sounds from entering and escaping is always a savvy investment.

If you’re lucky enough to be a part of building your own house, during construction is the easiest time to soundproof a basement. This can be done by doing things like ensuring that there are no two doors in the basement built directly across from each other because if they are built this way it’s an invitation for sound to freely reverberate throughout your home because they act as a sound funnel.

Since most of us probably can’t build our own houses or buy them brand new, we should know that there are still some things that we can do to maximize basement soundproofing. One of the main causes of noise in homes, especially older homes, is squeaky floors and ceilings. If you’re interested in minimizing these sounds as well as other sounds in your home, Green Glue should be your new best friend. It’s a very useful tool in soundproofing and can assist you in easily installing another layer of drywall on your ceilings over the original, as well as on walls and floors to help block out unwanted sounds.

Another place that sounds enter and escape rooms and your entire home from are windows and window frames. Even though some basements don’t have windows, many do. If you’re soundproofing your basement, you’ll want to make sure that window frames are composed of vinyl or wood, as these materials stop sound in its tracks. You’ll also want to make sure that there are no places for sound to escape on the frames. Fill in any gaps with acoustical caulk. If it’s the windows themselves giving you problems with sound, it might be wise to replace them with soundproof glass or double paned glass.

Although the basement might not be your favorite part of your house, soundproofing with this method or with mass loaded vinyl it will make your home a more enjoyable place to be overall if you do a little basement soundproofing.

Blogging: Know When to Hold 'em

When you are writing a business blog (b-blog) you need to make sure you do not pass along business secrets. This is as true for employees as well as the business owner.

Because each business is based on an individual model developed to highlight the expertise and personality of the business owner it should not come as a surprise that there are business models in place that are unique to the business.

You may feel that the information is not a ‘big deal’, but you should know the information ‘can and will be used against you’ to quote the famed Miranda rights.

Pssst. Come Here

Essentially you can supply industry information, but should refrain from offering company secrets. You may be surprised at how many individuals will view your blog and many of them will be competitors. Allowing others to have some insider knowledge about your company can negatively affect your business.

This is essentially a cardinal rule of business blogging. You may want to develop your own set of policy statements that can assist you in making sure you are putting your best foot forward in your role as a provider of knowledge-based content.

Don’t Dance Alone

You should also remember that blogging is a bit like tango – it takes two. You can provide information and your visitors can provide comments. Make sure that the information you provide is interesting and will encourage visitors to make a return trip to your blog.

Edit First and Often

You should also make sure to edit (or have someone edit for you) your blog. Nothing will be as quick a turn off to visitors as a blog filled with spelling and grammar mistakes. It might make sense to develop your blog in a word processing program and then cut and past that material into your blog.

We’ve all come across blogs where it seems that author simply threw it together on the fly. In those moments we make a mental note not to return. There really is no excuse for error filled content in your business blog. If you do notice a mistake, even after original editing, go back and edit your blog as soon as you can.

Posts Reflect Who You Are

The good news is you don’t have to do extensive research to present content on subject you are unfamiliar with, just stick with content you are familiar with. If you come across something that is well written on a subject you don’t feel comfortable writing about simply provide a direct link for visitors.

Blogging with Multiply!

If you wish to blog, upload photos, videos, music files, write reviews, and post your social calendar online in just one website, all you have to do is sign up for an account at Multiply.

Thumbs-Ups: Photo uploading is virtually unlimited, and images can be classified by albums, and given captions. Skin choices are provided to give your blogs more color and life. The URL is pretty easy to memorize – http://username.multiply.com. Lastly, RSS feeds are allowed.

Thumbs-Down: On writing reviews, Multiply doesn’t give users much freedom on customizing content by font type or color. Layouts can be edited…but only if you have CSS knowledge and even with that, customizing is still somewhat limited. Smiley list is pitifully inadequate.What are the percentage of people earning on Adsense Blogs? And how much do they earn? Get your special $97 report on Adsense Tips and Tricks!

Live and Write Freely at LiveJournal With a hip nickname such as “LJ”, LiveJournal is a website that’s especially suitable for the fun-loving crowd that’s always on the go.

Thumbs-Ups: Bonds forged online are strengthened by LJ’s email notifications for commenting. Thus, if someone comments in your blog, an email will be sent to inform you about it. Likewise, an email will be sent to you if your comment on someone else’s LJ receives a reply – whether it’s from the blog owner or another blogger doesn’t matter.

Thumbs-Down: LJ however is less easy to customize than other blogs. Some features that are already offered free by other blog hosting sites are on the other hand available only for LJ members with paid accounts.

Be In Vogue at Xanga Teenagers seem to be absolutely enamored with Xanga. If you desire a blogging process that’s easy and stylish at the same time, Xanga is definitely the blog hosting site you’re looking for.

Thumbs-Ups: Besides having community-based blogging to look forward to, each post you make will allow you to inform your readers what you’re presently reading, watching, or playing. You can also upload photos, music, and write categorized reviews. A guest book is automatically offered to users.

Thumbs-Downs: Although Xanga allows users to make use of RSS feeds; it would take them some time to properly integrate it in their blogs. The customize layout options is sadly limited, the URL provided for members is a mouthful, and commenting is exclusive for Xanga members only.

So, what do you think? Which blog hosting site do you plan to choose? Wherever you end up blogging, we wish you well! Blog on!

Does Blogging Bypass Traditional Media?

National and international business is doing something mainstream media professionals never saw coming – they have wrested control of information away from entrenched media sources.

Standard media sources provide content in a confined and compartmentalized fashion. This form of communication is normal, expected, dare I say status quo?

A Passing Fad or Defining the Medium

In the beginning blogs seemed more attuned to ‘stream of conscious’ thought. The beginning of blogging was personal and sometimes social. This thought morphed into social networks that are prevalent today.

Somewhere along the way business caught a vision that blended information and marketing into a highly personalized package known as Business Blogging (B-blogging).

Taking Information to the Consumer

Blogging has taken business information from small portions of data from sources you need to pay for and brought it to the masses – at no cost.

Suddenly those who were the most knowledgeable were bypassing the media and actually finding greater success in reaching those most interested. Not only was the information available in a timely way it had a significant impact on the marketing aspect of the company.

The media can often drain the personality from an interview with an expert, but a b-blog can restore the personality and allow visitors to see your business as more approachable, accessible and likeable.

Where Media Fails

Where once a staff writer had numerous stories to work on and numerous contacts to make to finish other stories, now a motivated industry expert could bring multiple opinions and insight to their readers in a very short period of time. While the staff writer worked on trying to understand the issues surrounding the article they were been assigned to write the business owner/industry expert is already gathering comments and analysis from other industry experts.

Essentially business blogging removes one of the most cumbersome steps to information distribution - time. The biggest positive in all of this is blogging has the ability to place you in the driver’s seat of information.

Vision Connections

Many businesses have not explored blogging because they haven’t caught the vision for success and they haven’t understood the benefit of developing a niche specific information stream that has the ability to convert motivated information consumers into customers who understand how the information affects their purchasing decisions.

Blogging has given business a tremendous gift. Interestingly mainstream media has taken an ‘if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em’ mentality by providing their own blogs that have taken this town hall approach to information to their readers. In the final analysis mainstream media still stand several paces behind business blogging pioneers who are now viewed as trusted authorities.

Blogging - We Love It!

Blogging is not a new activity, at least for those who jumped on the blogger bandwagon a couple of years ago. But more recently, it’s become a platform for all kinds of social, commercial and personal stories and information. While blogging may have started out as an internet fad, these days it’s much more widely used in business, as well as by individuals.

Blogging – tell your stories.

We love telling our tales of woe or triumph, writing witty anecdotes, or simply sharing our thoughts with the rest of the world. Blogging has given us the opportunity to get our opinions published for everyone to see, to comment on the latest big news items or celebrity gossip. Writing down our daily thoughts helps us to get the worries and frustrations of life out of our heads and lets us share our big moments on the blogging pages.

Blogging – share your interests.

One of the fantastic things about blogging is that we can write about absolutely anything; hobbies, lifestyle, children, school and work. There’s a whole host of blogging sites dedicated to particular interests, and we can keep up to date with other people’s views on things that we have in common. Whether it’s the latest technology, gadgets, cars or computer games, or things like travel and holidays, we can stay in touch with the most up to date information.

Blogging - get involved in the community.

Charity associations, local clubs, and community groups can use blogging to get their organizations known by a wider reaching audience. Online accounts of recent events is a great way to use blogging pages to get publicity, while a short piece on the next meeting or class can help promote the work of the club, and may even attract more participants or volunteers. The great advantage of blogging over writing web pages is that it’s quick and easy, and can be done by almost anyone!

Blogging – promote your business.

Many companies now use blogging pages as an informal way of connecting with their customers. For the smaller, or new business owners, it’s an excellent way to publicize their products without expensive advertising costs. Just by posting a regular blogging column, small companies can often draw in more business than by the more conventional methods.

Blogging – making a profit.

The biggest shake-up in the blogging explosion has most likely been caused by internet entrepreneurs. Promoting their online products and services has been helped tremendously by putting up several blogs to support their ventures. Blogging has hugely increased the potential traffic to new and existing websites, giving the marketers much more exposure to people using search engines for specific information. Blogging in itself has become a money-making business, even for beginners in the internet marketing business.

Having become one of the greatest internet resources for all types of people, blogging is usually free, easy to get started, and gives us all the opportunity to reach a massive worldwide audience!

Are You Passionate about Blogging?

There is a passion that is build into the entrepreneurial spirit. It is that sense of pride in a product and passion in a business that you tap into when you form an idea for a home-based or ecommerce business.

That passion is the driving force behind virtually every aspect of your online business. This passion can (and should) be evident in web design, product descriptions and knowledge-based content.

In the same way, the passion for your ‘idea’ may best be expressed through the use of a business blog. You can provide up to the minute updates on products, information or industry trends.

You can infuse your blog with reputable links and glean material from sources that only serve to convince your site visitors that you know what you are talking about and you have multiple sources to help provide information – hand picked for freshness and good taste.

Some business bloggers will actually work to stifle their enthusiasm for the very thing that fuels their business passion. They tend to believe that strict professionalism is the key to their online success. I tend to believe this approach is a mistake. If you’re enthusiastic about your business, products, and by default, blog you will find customers will often gravitate toward your personal passion. Yes, be professional, but be passionate, too.

I think the reason this is needed has a lot to do with a pervading apathy many people experience. It seems as if ideas are made to poke fun at and passionate people are consistently referred to as fanatics. While this can be true, it can also be a point where your genuine enthusiasm provides hope that a person can actually move from apathy to excitement in the 21st century.

The web thrives on a sense of anonymity and it is that environment which may be most conducive to really being able to express yourself positively in your business blog.

The wonder and excitement of life seems to fade at a younger and younger age, but if we are honest we want something to cheer. We also want something to be exited about and in the privacy of our own homes we may even marvel and the joy we see in the passions expressed by an ecommerce business owner.

I encourage you to confidently take your business blog and infuse some passion into it. Make it personal, make it fun and give your readers something to believe in.

The Benefits of Blogging for Home Business Entrepreneurs

A few years ago all the gurus were screaming “You’ve got to have a web site” and they were right. Now we are being told “you have got to have a blog”. But is this true and are they really worth the effort?

At least blogs are easier and cheaper to set up than web sites thanks to the likes of Blogger.com and Wordpress. But is it worth the time and effort writing the posts and keeping them updated ? My answer to this question produces a typical fence sitters reply. They can be.

Sure if you just want to let the world know what an exciting life you lead or let the world know your views on the burning issues that is fine. You should not really expect to make much profit from your blog. It is a hobby, something you are just doing for fun but if you want to make it a marketing tool of your business then you must adopt a professional attitude regarding your blogs.

Before you post anything you must decide exactly what you hope to achieve with each blog you post. So what are the options?

You might want to sell something either your own or an affiliate product.
In which case you might consider a review or an explanation of how to use the product and or the benefits a buyer would receive. Your one purpose with this type of blog is to pre sell the product and get the prospect to click the link to the full sales page and hopefully make a purchase.

A blog can also be a great way to establish you within your specialised niche.
It can help you get your name known and increase your credibility. But this will only work if you write fresh thought provoking copy. A rehash of others work or hackneyed ideas will do little for your standing especially if your niche is small and close knit.

Another option is to write a series of “how to” blogs giving your readers information on specific aspects of your niche. This can often be a good introduction to offering them a complete “How to” e-book or program. I look on these as very similar to the e-courses that many Internet marketers offer.
Instead of setting them up on your auto responder you post them to your blog at regular intervals.

The bottom line is that if you are to make posting blogs a worthwhile option then you need to have clear in your mind exactly what you want to achieve with your blog before you even write one word.