Smarte Solutions

Creating a successful information product is not just a matter of having the skills to put it together. It’s a matter of planning and focus. By following a 3-step process, you will create great, high-quality information products that sell well on the Internet.

= Success As An Infopreneur Takes Planning =

The power to succeed as an infopreneur is in your hands. You just need to take the first step towards success. You need to make a plan. You need to state what you are going to do – what you are going to create.

It’s much easier to get what you want, when you have a clear vision of where you are going. This really holds true in information product creation. You can’t just start creating with no clear goal in mind. This will only lead to a jumbled mess of a product … and confused, unhappy customers.

You need to decide exactly what it is you are going to create. You need to picture the finished product. What information will it convey? How will it put across that information? Will it be best in an e-book? A video? An audio interview?

Think about your target market – your ideal customer. Who will buy it? What will they pay for it? Will they buy online?

You need to answer these questions, before you start creating your product. With those answers, you can draw a clear map for your creation process. Then, follow that map closely – with no deviations or detours.

= A 3-Step Plan Ensures Success =

Go through a 3-step process to ensure you create a high-quality information product:

1. Do your market research. Use the Internet to root out what kind of information people are spending their money on. Make sure they are actually buying this info online.

2. Write a clear and full description of your finished product. What are the expectations for this product? What will it teach? What problems will it solve? Write out a list of benefits your product will provide.

3. Start creating your information product. Frequently check your description from Step 2. Is your product meeting expectations? Will it supply the benefits you promised? Are you on track?

By spending some time planning your information product before you start, you’ll find the whole creation process goes much smoother. You’ll have more focus and find that creating the product becomes a much easier undertaking.

With clear focus on a solid goal, you can soon create a hot-selling information product and join the other infopreneurs … out sunning by the pool.

Many marketers and product developers make a disastrous mistake: They develop and sell products that nobody wants.

This is usually how it goes: The product developer starts programming software or writing a book, just because he is interested in the subject, without looking at the market. Then once the product is ready, he starts promoting it, just to find out he can make no sales.

There must be a better way. Let’s look at how it should be done instead.

You should always create a product that solves a problem. The problem has to be serious enough for people to want to pay for a solution to their problem. Good examples are: People who are overweight are willing to pay for a solution to that problem. People who suspects that their husband or wife is cheating on them are willing to pay to find out. People who can save a lot of time by automating a time-consuming task are willing to pay for the saved time.

So here are the simple steps to creating a successful product:

1. Identify a common problem
There are many problems that need to be solved in this world. The problem has to be a common one, so that enough people need a solution to this problem. And the problem has to be important enough so that people are willing to pay for a solution

2. Provide a solution to the problem
This is the product development phase. You have to solve a product that actually solves the problem that these people are experiencing.

3. Find people experiencing the problem
This simply means that you need targeted advertising. Where to find your target audience will depend on the specific problem. Maybe you will find them on search engines. Make sure that your keywords are very specifically targeted at those who experience the problem you want to solve. Or maybe you can find your target audience in certain communities, such as online forums or self help groups.

4. Prove that your solution works
Once you have found your target audience, they will only be willing to buy your solution once you prove to them that your solution actually works. The proof can be social proof (such as testimonials), or it can consist of examples of the results. If you are selling software that removes red eyes from photos, the proof can consist of before and after pictures.

That is really all there is to it. Follow the simple steps as outlined above and your product is a guaranteed success.

There are many various multimedia advances happening to the good old blog. Although the blog is only a few years old, technology has kept right up there with it. Now, you have the ability to do a number of fascinating things with it. As the blog owner, this can mean huge potential dollars in marketing. If you are just a blog reader, you can now access your favorites online any time that you feel like it.

There are several areas in which the blog has entered the multimedia world. Here are some of them to think about.

* Text. Okay, so this isn’t anything new. It is the most commonly thought of type of blogging. Simple writings that are done on the blog.
* Images. This takes it one step ahead. Now, you can send images to your fellow bloggers, your family or your friends.
* Video. Even better, the blogs can now come packed with video from your digital camera or the cell phone that is video enabled.
* Podcasts. The latest feature. It allows individuals to receive the information that they want, when they want it. Podscasts allow you to receive both audio and video over the internet.

But, just because you have the ability to use these various types of blogging, what happens to it? Does it just sit on your website in the hopes that someone will actually want it? The good news is that you can now send these multimedia advances to individuals on their Ipods or their mobile phones. This means instant notification when you update the blog and instant access no matter where they are located. In short, it translates into dollars through marketing.

New advances in blogging are occurring all the time. Stay connected to your consumers, your fellow bloggers, and your favorite blogs. The fact that you can do all of this from your mobile phone; just makes it even better. More than likely, you’ll have something to blog right now.

Author: Michael Lemm

In an enterprise environment, voice and video over IP (VoIP) significantly reduces long distance telephone charges by transferring all long-distance voice data over the Internet connection. It also provides a means for rich multimedia applications converging video, voice and data in a single session. Since VoIP shares the Internet connection with other forms of traffic, it must compete with other applications for network bandwidth. In order to make VoIP a viable business application for this scenario, the quality of VoIP should be equal to the traditional PSTN/ISDN voice and video services.

A typical corporate network environment carries a broad mix of data traffic with different bandwidth needs. Bursty data applications, such as email and the web, have variable and unpredictable bandwidth requirements while streaming real-time applications such as voice and video demand consistent bandwidth allocation and minimal delays. While a 250 millisecond delay in an email or a Web page will probably not be noticed, a similar delay in a VoIP phone conversation or video conference would make conversation uneasy and cause callers to talk over each other.

Streaming applications like VoIP and videoconferencing require performance guarantees to ensure that they do not suffer from bandwidth contention from less critical applications and Internet traffic (e.g., non-critical Web browsing, large FTP file transfers, and P2P uploading/downloading of digital music files). A policy based quality of service (QoS) solution can ensure that your voice and video applications receive the bandwidth they require.

So what’s the solution??

First….ensure your network is optimized for sufficent bandwidth….with room for expansion when/if necessary. For businesses with frequent multimedia applications such as videoconferencing….a minimum of DS3 Bandwidth is necessary. Perhaps OC3 for large companies with extensive multimedia load pressures on their network.

Second….allocate your network resources based on business priorities. A commercially available monitoring device will help you monitor and manage network and application performance. This allows you to prioritize traffic traveling over your WAN/Internet connection and guarantee bandwidth for timing-critical, real-time applications like VoIP and videoconferencing. Through such a device specific voice, video and multimedia traffic flows can be identified and the following actions can be assigned: minimum and maximum bandwidth; priorities; guaranteed rate (CBR); fairness; and control over the number of sessions allowed through the network.

Take control of your Internet and WAN resources to optimize the performance of your business-critical applications, VoIP and video traffic. Ensure sufficient bandwidth in your network for near term and expansion needs….and implement a monitoring system to manage the daily operations and priorities.

That’s simply smart business.
(ArticlesBase ID #185146)

Source: articlesbase.com

SSI has anticipated the fact that many software manufacturers will desire strong file wrapping technology in conjunction with CD copy protection. A file wrapper serves to protect the actual code of an application from being stripped out, reproduced, and redistributed outside of the original protection employed. In this regard, SSI has developed a strong strategic partnership with Xtreamlok. Xtreamlok’s xLok is a best-of-breed file wrapper product and has been developed to integrate SSI’s copy protection validation software. This relationship is mutually beneficial as file wrapping technology alone does not prevent CD copying and redistribution. Layering the security of XtreamLok’s industry leading file wrapper around SSI’s universally machine-compatible copy protection technology affords software manufacturers an ideal blend of two complimentary and necessary parts to a comprehensive media-only anti-piracy solution.

As widely distributed software titles require the production of up to 3,000,000 application CDs, it is of paramount importance that the copy protection technology be replicatable. The process of CD replication provides for a replication house to create an initial glass product master. This glass master is then used as a template from which large quantities of product CDs can be efficiently stamped. Through a strategic alliance with Eastman Kodak Company, SSI has confirmed the professional replicatability of SSI’s media manipulation, ensuring the production viability of the technology. In addition, through a strategic alliance with Optical Disc Corporation, SSI has developed a software-only replication management solution for SmarteCD copy protection technology. This makes SmarteCD easier to implement, from a professional replication standpoint, than competitive solutions, which require specialized hardware to manage the replication of their CD media-based copy protection solutions. These facts ensure that software manufacturers have the ability to continue to use the replication facilities of their choice, while lowering the cost and reducing the resources necessary to conduct efficient replication. SSI simply has to license the replication house to use SSI technology and provide the necessary process knowledge.

For any CD media-based copy protection technology to be viable throughout the marketplace, it must be universally compatible with CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD (those capable of reading CD media) drives as well as the associated operating system of the protected application(s). SSI specifically designed its copy protection technology to fit this contingency under all Microsoft 32-bit operating systems (Windows 9x through Microsoft XP). This compatibility provides SSI with one of its strongest competitive advantages in that it succeeds specifically on CD-reader types where competitive solutions fail.

Through a patent-pending media manipulation technology, SSI protects software applications distributed on CD media from casual piracy. SSI offers software manufacturers a cost-effective anti-piracy solution that resides entirely within the CD media itself. This anti-piracy technology distinguishes an original, properly licensed CD from a forgery. With this solution, software manufacturers can effectively render forged application CDs unusable.

At the point of CD production (either replication or duplication), the SSI technology physically alters the CD media in a way that cannot be duplicated or digitally reproduced by standard CD writer hardware and software. SSI has developed the necessary code (static and dynamic link libraries) whereby the originality of the media can be efficiently validated through a seamless check for the media manipulation. Calls to this validation code can be contained within a third party file wrapper shell (code to protect the native application code from being stripped) or placed directly within the protected application(s) by the developer.

The validation code can be called at whatever point or points a particular application needs to validate the originality of the CD. When called, the validation code determines whether or not the disc media is valid and original. This key information is then passed back to either the application (if called from the application) or to the file wrapper shell (if called from the shell), which then carries out the appropriate action, in line with the software manufacturer’s Piracy Management objectives.

Smarte Product Authentication is a customizable Software Piracy Management platform, developed by Smarte Solutions, Inc. (or “SSI”), at the core of which is an immediately mass-deployable, CD-based copy protection tool, marketed as SmarteCD. The platform, as a whole, is comprised of complimentary Smarte Technologies that can be variably bundled by software manufacturers to provide sound, revenue-enhancing solutions that combat software piracy. The purpose of Piracy Management is to provide software manufacturers an immediate return on investment by significantly increasing legitimate sales and decreasing both production and distribution costs.

Smarte Product Authentication offers software manufacturers a flexible and cost-effective Piracy Management infrastructure that is ideally suited for the protection and promotion of multi-license enterprise software as well as individual consumer-license retail applications distributed on CD or via the Internet. For product and business environments that do require a rigorous ‘anti-piracy’ solution, Smarte Product Authentication can provide the strictest possible protection to an application, eliminating virtually all casual piracy of the product. Smarte Product Authentication, though, differentiates itself from alternative anti-piracy solutions in its flexibility of implementation. Because the infrastructure is comprised of distinct tools that can be used in different combinations and with variable underlying strategies, the resulting Piracy Management solution can be tailored to fit company and product specific user-base objectives. By uniquely managing piracy through Smarte Product Authentication, software companies can exploit piracy to their economic benefit – maximizing piracy’s positive contributions and minimizing its negative effects.

Eclipse Data Technologies is another leading provider of CD replication management solutions. Eclipse is also enabling the software-only replication management of SSI’s copy protection mechanism for use with its CD replication management systems. Additionally, Eclipse is working with SSI to provide a CD replication ‘fail-safe’ mechanism that prevents wasted replication resources resulting from the common occurrence of unusable CD’s being porduced during the replication process – improving replicator efficiency and lowering production costs.