One of the most important advances in home theater has come in sound technology, which now bring the feel of cinema sound into your living room. There are four technologies to choose from - surround sound, Dolby Prologic®, Dolby Digital®, and THX.
Surround Sound
The first big breakthrough in home theater was the evolution of surround sound, which was first introduced in 1982 by Dolby Surround. Dolby Surround works by decoding the surround channel so that it's played back like it was recorded in the movie sound studio.
Dolby Pro Logic
The next step in home theater sound technology came in 1987 with the advancement of surround sound with Dolby Pro Logic, which is able to decode an active center channel to its own speaker. This allowed for clearer dialogue and for the left and right front speakers to be spaced farther apart to give a richer distribution of sound.
In simple terms this technology decodes and converts two channel stereo audio from your VCR, DVD or TV into four channels of audio (by going to your surround speakers) - giving your current system the quality it needs for a true home theater experience.
Dolby Digital
The newest surround sound technology from Dolby is Dolby Digital®, which provides six discrete channels of full range sound: front center, front left, front right, rear left, rear right, and the bass or subwoofer. Dolby Digital technology also allows for more decoding options, so that program material recorded in Dolby Digital can be played as mono, stereo, Dolby Surround or Pro Logic, or to the full 6 channel capacity.
While Dolby Digital offers a better separation of channels and the addition of individual channels for both surround speakers than its predecessor Dolby Pro Logic, you still need a Dolby Pro Logic decoder because of the amount of material that still uses the traditional two channel stereo sound (and only a Dolby Prologic can break those two channels into four for a fuller surround sound). Luckily you won't need two separate decoders because Dolby Digital has a Pro Logic decoder built right in. If you're planning on buying a Digital Versatile Discs (DVD) or High Definition Television (HDTV) than you'll want to go Dolby Digital - it's as close as you'll get to the sound and feel of movie theater without having to leave your sofa.
THX
While THX sounds like it is a brand name, it is actually a licensing technology for home theater equipment, which is used to ensure the highest standards for the best reproduction of theater-type sound. Dolby and THX often work together to create a high quality home theater experience. In short, THX has become the five star standard for acoustics and speaker placement and certifies the equipment that is most capable of playing the best sound.
Thanks to a THX patent, sound which was originally created for the movie screen is now suited for a smaller and closer environment - your home theater. Be sure that your home equipment is certified THX otherwise you're not getting the real thing.
While it comes with a high price tag, the advantages of a THX audio system over standard surround systems are clearer dialogue, easy bass reproduction (great for action movies with lots of explosions), enveloping surround sound and wide frequency and ranges.
About the Author
The House Designers has handpicked the most popular home designs from our collections to offer you the best home plans in America. We also offer you the ability to contact the designer of your home directly to help you in any way possible with making one of the biggest decisions of your life.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
A Zero Cost Technique To Triple Your Response
Ok, so you have your marketing message sorted now. You are speaking about what your prospects want. It is clear that you have a competitive advantage, and what you are offering presents great value. Yet still they hesitate! What will get them to make that call? Read this article to find out how to triple the number of prospects.
Trust is the key to all profitable relationships.
A prospect becomes a customer when they part with money to you, to either solve a problem or fulfil a desire. Many of the steps to get them up to the decision process of spending are well known. There is however one final thing that will help finally close the sale.
This article briefly explores the steps to getting to the point of the close, and then uncovers that final clincher, that will help you see your sales triple. And it should not cost you a penny.
In order to create a relationship that leads to a customer buying from you, and hopefully becoming a customer for life, you need to build trust. It needs to be clear to your prospect that you have something that they want, and that they can get it from you.
So how do you go about creating that need - that realisation that you have something they want? I have covered this in other articles, but the main driver, is that you speak to them, in their language about their problems.
How to create the evidence that you deliver what you say.
Next you have to get them to believe that you can deliver what you promise. The easiest way to do this is through testimonials and references. Pick a couple of references, from amongst your satisfied customers that share the same issues as your current prospect. Show them that you have indeed solved very similar problems before.
Your testimonials should ideally include both a time and a value statement. This basically says what value the customer got from your offering. This way, your future customer will have a comfort factor, to help them make that decision.
But is your solution right for them?
Many sceptics may say that, just because it is right for the guy down the road, dose not mean it is going to be right for me. They need to see this offering working for them. In many instances, you should build into your sales and marketing plan, budget to do trials with the customer. You need to prove that it can work for them.
It is vital, with all trials to have a plan, that helps the prospective customer, follow a set of actions with the trial, which clearly demonstrates the benefits of your offering.
Is it however possible to get your money with out having to do a trial? I mean when you walk into most shops, they won't let you take the items home to trial them out, and then go back and pay for them!
But they do give you a mechanism to ensure that you get what you pay for. That if the product does not do what it says on the tin, and then you as the customer are protected. So how do they do that?
Offer a 100% money back guarantee.
Just as you want to ensure that what you buy will work, so do your customers. Yet today few small businesses offer that money back guarantee! I have been told by so many business owners, that I just don't get it! There is no way that they could afford to do that.
But stop! Put yourself in your customer's shoes. If you can not take the risk, and you created the offering - then why should they take a risk? You need to be 100% certain that you are selling a product, fit for purpose, to your customer. They need to be certain, they need to see you put your money where you mouth is!
When your customer knows that you are confident, they will be more confident giving you their money. Especially when they know that can get it back if they are not satisfied.
About the Author
This article was written by Peter Lawless, founder of 3R Sales and Marketing. For previous articles like this, visit 3R's Articles. Alternatively, subscribe to Success our free monthly Information Bulletin with sales and marketing articles.
Trust is the key to all profitable relationships.
A prospect becomes a customer when they part with money to you, to either solve a problem or fulfil a desire. Many of the steps to get them up to the decision process of spending are well known. There is however one final thing that will help finally close the sale.
This article briefly explores the steps to getting to the point of the close, and then uncovers that final clincher, that will help you see your sales triple. And it should not cost you a penny.
In order to create a relationship that leads to a customer buying from you, and hopefully becoming a customer for life, you need to build trust. It needs to be clear to your prospect that you have something that they want, and that they can get it from you.
So how do you go about creating that need - that realisation that you have something they want? I have covered this in other articles, but the main driver, is that you speak to them, in their language about their problems.
How to create the evidence that you deliver what you say.
Next you have to get them to believe that you can deliver what you promise. The easiest way to do this is through testimonials and references. Pick a couple of references, from amongst your satisfied customers that share the same issues as your current prospect. Show them that you have indeed solved very similar problems before.
Your testimonials should ideally include both a time and a value statement. This basically says what value the customer got from your offering. This way, your future customer will have a comfort factor, to help them make that decision.
But is your solution right for them?
Many sceptics may say that, just because it is right for the guy down the road, dose not mean it is going to be right for me. They need to see this offering working for them. In many instances, you should build into your sales and marketing plan, budget to do trials with the customer. You need to prove that it can work for them.
It is vital, with all trials to have a plan, that helps the prospective customer, follow a set of actions with the trial, which clearly demonstrates the benefits of your offering.
Is it however possible to get your money with out having to do a trial? I mean when you walk into most shops, they won't let you take the items home to trial them out, and then go back and pay for them!
But they do give you a mechanism to ensure that you get what you pay for. That if the product does not do what it says on the tin, and then you as the customer are protected. So how do they do that?
Offer a 100% money back guarantee.
Just as you want to ensure that what you buy will work, so do your customers. Yet today few small businesses offer that money back guarantee! I have been told by so many business owners, that I just don't get it! There is no way that they could afford to do that.
But stop! Put yourself in your customer's shoes. If you can not take the risk, and you created the offering - then why should they take a risk? You need to be 100% certain that you are selling a product, fit for purpose, to your customer. They need to be certain, they need to see you put your money where you mouth is!
When your customer knows that you are confident, they will be more confident giving you their money. Especially when they know that can get it back if they are not satisfied.
About the Author
This article was written by Peter Lawless, founder of 3R Sales and Marketing. For previous articles like this, visit 3R's Articles. Alternatively, subscribe to Success our free monthly Information Bulletin with sales and marketing articles.
Why Hire An Internet Marketing Expert For Online Success
To give a full set of practical, turn-key business tools. To immediately setup a working business for people or help them organize and operate any business on the Internet, from large to home-based.
Here's several guidelines that we think you should use when you're searching for information about internet. It is important to remember that the advice we are giving you is only relevant to internet information about internet. We do not offer you any guidance or advice when you are also conducting research in books or magazines.
Your website has to magically appear before buyers when they need products and services. Internet Marketers deploy search engine optimisation techniques to make your website visible and targetted to internet users.
Hire An Internet Marketing Expert For Online Success
It never ceases to amaze me how many otherwise intelligent people set- up a website, without any type of plan or clue about how to promote it, how to write a sales letter, how to write an ad--nothing! Fact is, nowadays, anyone can have a website. But once you get one, then what? How are you going to make money with it?
If you don't know what you're doing, then do the smart thing and hire an Internet marketing expert.
What? You say you can't afford to hire an Internet marketing expert. Well, believe it or not, there are other ways to hire an Internet marketing expert, besides paying an expensive flat rate or hourly fee.
You can hire an Internet marketing expert by simply buying his products. So, why should you buy his products?
Because Internet marketing experts are masters at marketing. They've already arrived at the place you want to get to. They also derive great pleasure from sharing their incredible knowledge. They have the answers to every single one of your questions. All you have to do is ask them.
However, you shouldn't expect any Internet marketing expert to spend their valuable time mentoring you for free. Like I mentioned earlier, at the very least, you have to buy their products. I mean, let's get real. You wouldn't walk into a doctor's or lawyer's office and expect to get free help and advice.
Well, Internet marketing experts are highly trained professionals as well, and deserve to be compensated for their time. And some of them will offer you some sort of limited consultation, if you buy their products or use their service.
So, how do you go about finding an Internet marketing expert? It's actually a lot easier than you think. Most of your top Internet marketing experts are very high-profile.
Honestly, internet marketing is a whole new ballgame. Moving from traditional marketing to internet marketing is a lot going through rehabilitation and learning to walk again.
Since the early 90's, the internet has become known as a medium for advertising. It has also been preferred by consumers and businessmen in public shopping and business dealings. Unlike any other media, like television, radio and print, internet advertising solutions with its low cost has become widely used.
The experience and access to cutting edge internet marketing tools, technology and information will help you achieve improved and quantifiable results. It utilizes proven internet marketing methodologies with best of breed advertising technologies to deliver positive returns on investment.
You can find many of them by reading articles like this one. That's right. Many Internet marketing experts write articles. Not all, but most do.
In fact, you should read lots of articles anyway. Not only will articles help you learn, but you may also find a writer you like. And by finding a writer you like, you just may find an Internet marketing expert you like.
When you find a writer you like, make sure you check out his website carefully. If he doesn't have a website, don't consider his services. Why? Because you can't learn Internet marketing from someone whom doesn't have any type of presence on the Internet.
A website is critical, because there are certain things you need to look for such as:
Does the website have a strong headline and sales letter? Even if you don't have any experience in this area, you'll be able to tell right away, if the headline and sales letter are effective.
How? Because if the headline is able to pull you into reading the sales letter, and the sales letter keeps you interested and makes you want to buy whatever's being offered, chances are, both the headline and the sales letter are effective. Other important things to look for are:
Is their website design professional? Is it attractive and easy to navigate? Or is it busy and distracting?
Do they have their own domain name, or does it contain the names, "Geocities", "Angelfire" or "Tripod"?
Can they back up their claims with cold, hard, indisputable and verifiable facts?
Do they have their name, telephone number and street address on their website? Profit Lance has taken the internet marketing world by storm! See profit lance reviews here.
Do they use authentic customer testimonials, complete with first and last names?
Do they make it easy for you to purchase their product or service?
Do they offer a fair and reasonable money-back guarantee?
If the answer is "Yes" to every single one of the above questions, congratulations! You may just found your Internet marketing expert!
Experience in internet marketing search engine may be just what your next campaign needs to be a success.
You will be able to employ various internet marketing techniques seemingly all at once. You will know what works for your business and what wastes your time.
Inexpensive internet advertising solutions are able to lead other advertising medium because they were developed to be interactive. When a consumer reads and clicks on a web advertisement, it is easier and more convenient to respond or inquire with e-mail and business reply cards.
About the Author
Here's several guidelines that we think you should use when you're searching for information about internet. It is important to remember that the advice we are giving you is only relevant to internet information about internet. We do not offer you any guidance or advice when you are also conducting research in books or magazines.
Your website has to magically appear before buyers when they need products and services. Internet Marketers deploy search engine optimisation techniques to make your website visible and targetted to internet users.
Hire An Internet Marketing Expert For Online Success
It never ceases to amaze me how many otherwise intelligent people set- up a website, without any type of plan or clue about how to promote it, how to write a sales letter, how to write an ad--nothing! Fact is, nowadays, anyone can have a website. But once you get one, then what? How are you going to make money with it?
If you don't know what you're doing, then do the smart thing and hire an Internet marketing expert.
What? You say you can't afford to hire an Internet marketing expert. Well, believe it or not, there are other ways to hire an Internet marketing expert, besides paying an expensive flat rate or hourly fee.
You can hire an Internet marketing expert by simply buying his products. So, why should you buy his products?
Because Internet marketing experts are masters at marketing. They've already arrived at the place you want to get to. They also derive great pleasure from sharing their incredible knowledge. They have the answers to every single one of your questions. All you have to do is ask them.
However, you shouldn't expect any Internet marketing expert to spend their valuable time mentoring you for free. Like I mentioned earlier, at the very least, you have to buy their products. I mean, let's get real. You wouldn't walk into a doctor's or lawyer's office and expect to get free help and advice.
Well, Internet marketing experts are highly trained professionals as well, and deserve to be compensated for their time. And some of them will offer you some sort of limited consultation, if you buy their products or use their service.
So, how do you go about finding an Internet marketing expert? It's actually a lot easier than you think. Most of your top Internet marketing experts are very high-profile.
Honestly, internet marketing is a whole new ballgame. Moving from traditional marketing to internet marketing is a lot going through rehabilitation and learning to walk again.
Since the early 90's, the internet has become known as a medium for advertising. It has also been preferred by consumers and businessmen in public shopping and business dealings. Unlike any other media, like television, radio and print, internet advertising solutions with its low cost has become widely used.
The experience and access to cutting edge internet marketing tools, technology and information will help you achieve improved and quantifiable results. It utilizes proven internet marketing methodologies with best of breed advertising technologies to deliver positive returns on investment.
You can find many of them by reading articles like this one. That's right. Many Internet marketing experts write articles. Not all, but most do.
In fact, you should read lots of articles anyway. Not only will articles help you learn, but you may also find a writer you like. And by finding a writer you like, you just may find an Internet marketing expert you like.
When you find a writer you like, make sure you check out his website carefully. If he doesn't have a website, don't consider his services. Why? Because you can't learn Internet marketing from someone whom doesn't have any type of presence on the Internet.
A website is critical, because there are certain things you need to look for such as:
Does the website have a strong headline and sales letter? Even if you don't have any experience in this area, you'll be able to tell right away, if the headline and sales letter are effective.
How? Because if the headline is able to pull you into reading the sales letter, and the sales letter keeps you interested and makes you want to buy whatever's being offered, chances are, both the headline and the sales letter are effective. Other important things to look for are:
Is their website design professional? Is it attractive and easy to navigate? Or is it busy and distracting?
Do they have their own domain name, or does it contain the names, "Geocities", "Angelfire" or "Tripod"?
Can they back up their claims with cold, hard, indisputable and verifiable facts?
Do they have their name, telephone number and street address on their website? Profit Lance has taken the internet marketing world by storm! See profit lance reviews here.
Do they use authentic customer testimonials, complete with first and last names?
Do they make it easy for you to purchase their product or service?
Do they offer a fair and reasonable money-back guarantee?
If the answer is "Yes" to every single one of the above questions, congratulations! You may just found your Internet marketing expert!
Experience in internet marketing search engine may be just what your next campaign needs to be a success.
You will be able to employ various internet marketing techniques seemingly all at once. You will know what works for your business and what wastes your time.
Inexpensive internet advertising solutions are able to lead other advertising medium because they were developed to be interactive. When a consumer reads and clicks on a web advertisement, it is easier and more convenient to respond or inquire with e-mail and business reply cards.
About the Author
Profit Lance has taken the internet marketing world by storm! My reviews at http://www.honestreview.info/profitlance/index.html
Solving Educational Problems at the World's Most Recent Personal and Professional Problem Solving Site
Introduction
The aim of this article is to introduce to the world the educational solutions module (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/education.html) of the world's most recent personal and professional problem solving site (http://www.triplacc.com/). The article is addressed to those readers who may have an educational problem bogging them and who may therefore be looking for a way out of their predicament. The reader may be a parent, child, or student.
The approach that we have adopted below is to describe competitive offerings, the customer profile, problem-oriented solutions, target markets, product offerings, and usability features.
Competitive Offerings
The following are the top educational sites on the Internet, along with their offerings.
US Department of Education (http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml). It defines the US education policy and provides information on financial aid, educational research and statistics, grants and contracts, and teaching and learning resources.
Educational Testing Service. It provides a range of test resources.
FunBrain.com (http://www.funbrain.com/). It provides educational games for K-8 kids. PrimaryGames.com (http://www.primarygames.com/). It provides fun learning tools and games for kids. GEM (http://www.thegateway.org/). It provides educational resources such as lesson plans and other teaching and learning resources.
Education World (http://www.education-world.com/). It provides advice on lesson plans, professional development, and technology integration.
NASA Education Enterprise (http://education.nasa.gov/home/index.html). It provides educational materials and information relating to space exploration. Spartacus Educational (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/). It is a British online encyclopedia that focuses on historical topics. Department for Education and Skills (http://www.dfes.gov.uk/). It is a UK government department site that offers information and advice on various educational and skills topics. Times Educational Supplement (http://www.tes.co.uk/). It offers teaching news, teaching & educational resources, and active forums to help UK teachers. All these sites are useful in the domains that they cover. Their main limitations are as follows:
1. They tend to cover only a very narrow segment of the educational market. 2. They do not take as their starting point the daily educational needs of the typical family. 3. They lack a problem focus; i.e., they do not formulate the typical learning and educational problems that pupils, students, and parents face on a daily basis. 4. As a result of the preceding point, the solutions offered are not as incisive (i.e. as problem-centred) as they could be. 5. They do not offer merchant products that deepen the visitor's understanding of her problem and of the consequent solutions.
The educational solutions module (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/education.html) of the world's most recent personal and professional problem solving site (http://www.triplacc.com/) addresses these problems by targeting a multiplicity of market segments, adopting a customer profile that fits the typical education-pursuing family, considering the specific needs or problems that this family may face, offering incisive (problem-centred) solutions to the various problems, and offering a range of merchant products that deepen the visitor's appreciation of her problems and of the solutions that are applicable to them.
Customer Profile
The customer profile or target visitor characteristics of the educational solutions module (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/education.html) is the same as for all specialist sites of the world's most recent personal and professional problem solving site (http://www.triplacc.com/). The site has been designed to meet the needs of visitors who have an educational problem bogging them. It is designed for both males and females, even though it is often convenient to refer to just one sex when writing.
This visitor uses search engines to research information about her personal or professional problem, with the intention of finding solutions to it. The visitor is serious about solving her problem and is therefore willing to buy products that help her to achieve her mission, provided that she can find reliable and honest information about relevant products so that she can make an informed decision about which ones to acquire. This information will help her to apply her finances economically, and hence avoid wasting money.
The visitor will want a money-back guarantee so that if a product does not live up to expectations or if she were misled into buying a product she can get a refund. Such a guarantee absolves her of purchase risks.
The visitor is intelligent (without necessarily being a genius), educated (without necessarily being a PhD), computer literate (without necessarily being a computer guru), and money-minded (without necessarily being a freebie hunter or an unemployed person). This of course does not mean that freebie hunters or unemployed persons cannot gain a thing from the site. To the contrary, there is a great deal of free information on the site. Just that it is hard to see how anyone can gain the full benefits of the site without buying products.
The visitor wants high quality information products (usually in digital form) and wants to pay the cheapest price for these (without paying so much emphasis on price that she compromises quality). The visitor also wants free bonus offers that are attached to the purchased goods.
The visitor is self-reliant and can cope on her own by reading, digesting, and applying advice about her problem until she solves it or discovers that she needs help from a professional, at which point her acquired knowledge will help her to reduce her consulting fees. As a result of the knowledge gained, the visitor will be able to assess consultants in order to avoid incompetent or fraudulent ones.
Problem-Centred Solutions
Our free solutions are organised in the form of pragmatic articles that are written by top experts. Each article addresses a specific daily problem, but does not go into detail. It explains the problem and tells the visitor what she must do to solve her problem. However, it does not tell the visitor how she must solve it - this is too much for an article. To find out about the how, the visitor must buy a product (usually an e-book or e-book set) that goes into greater depth.
The set of educational articles that we have chosen, to provide initial solution to a visitor's problem are as follows:
Signs of a Gifted Child (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/signs.html) - Informs parents on how to identify whether or not their children are gifted.
Essential Parenting Lessons for Enriching Your Child's Education (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/parenting.html) - Teaches parents how to enhance their child's education.
Using Positive Affirmations to Be a Better Student (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/positive-affirmations.html) - Teaches students how to use positive affirmations to improve their performance.
They Are Just Afraid of Writing (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/writing.html) - Teaches writing skills to students
How Can Parents Encourage Their Children to Read? (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/encourage.html) - Shows parents how they can improve their children's reading skills.
Test Preparation Tutoring (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/test-prep.html) - Discusses the topic of tutoring students to prepare for tests or exams.
Test Taking Strategies (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/test-taking.html) - Discusses various strategies for taking and passing tests or exams
Playing and Winning the Scholarship Game (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/scholarship-game.html) - Describes how to win scholarships.
How to Get a Scholarship to a UK University (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/uk-scholarships.html) - Describes how to win scholarships to a UK university.
Saving Money for College (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/saving-money.html) - Instructs students on how they can save money in preparation for college.
Student Loans: When Your Educational Dreams Can't Compete with the Cost (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/student-loans-0.html) - Explains to students the benefits of a student loan.
Education Loans Can Fund a Higher Degree to Boost Your Career (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/higher-degree.html) - Also explains to students the benefits of a student loan.
The Secret to US Department of Education Loans (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/usdoe-loans.html) - Teaches students how to get a US DoE loan to finance their higher education.
Student Loan Consolidation - Save Money, Pay Less, Spend More (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/student-loans.html) - Explains to graduates how to make use of loan consolidation to reduce their student loan repayments.
Higher Education: Finding the Right College for You (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/higher-education.html) - Explains to students how to find the right college or university for their higher education studies.
Mobile Learning - An Alternative Worth Considering (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/mobile.html) - Explains the concept of mobile learning and its place in education.
Online Degrees - Is Online Education Right for You? (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/online.html) - Analyses the merits of online learning as compared to traditional learning.
An Online College Education Overview (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/online-college.html) - Reviews the whole concept of online learning.
Finding the Right Quotation for Your Paper or Speech Online (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/quotation.html) - Shows writers and speakers how to find the right quotation to use in their writings or speeches.
Collaboration: An Important Leadership Development Skill (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/collaboration.html) - Explores the useful concept of collaboration and its role in leadership development.
At the end of each article is a list of merchant products that supplement the article's content. A link is also included for accessing the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Target Markets and Product Offerings
Now let us turn to the target markets and their associated product offerings. We have positioned the segments to address the various needs of a visitor over a period of time, and at any given time a customer may belong to one or more of the market segments. There are three general classes of products offered: ClickBank products (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html), Google products, and eBay products. Google and eBay products are presented on each page of the site. ClickBank products are grouped into product categories that match the target markets. These categories and their markets are as follows.
Children and Parenting. This consists of visitors who want parenting solutions for improving their children's upbringing. Their needs are met through the Children and Parenting section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Difficult Admissions. This consists of visitors who want to learn how to get admission into top universities. Their needs are met through the Difficult Admissions section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Esoteric Needs. This consists of visitors with unusual needs. Their needs are met through the Esoteric Needs section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Financial Aid. This consists of visitors looking for scholarships, grants, or loans. Their needs are met through the Financial Aid section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Leadership Skills. This consists of visitors looking to develop their leadership skills. Their needs are met through the Leadership Skills section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Learning. This consists of visitors who want to improve their learning ability. Their needs are met through the Learning section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Mental Speed. This consists of visitors who want to explode their mental speed. Their needs are met through the Mental Speed section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Positive Affirmations. This consists of visitors who want to transform their negative dispositions into a positive mindset in order to improve their performance. Their needs are met through the Positive Affirmations section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Speaking. This consists of visitors looking to improve their speaking skills. Their needs are met through the Speaking section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Tests and Exams. This consists of visitors looking to master exam technique. Their needs are met through the Tests and Exams section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Writing. This consists of visitors looking to improve their writing skills. Their needs are met through the Writing section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Conclusion
This article has introduced the educational solutions module (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/education.html) of the world's most recent personal and professional problem solving site (http://www.triplacc.com/). The article has examined competitive offerings, the target customer profile, problem-oriented solutions, target markets, and product offerings. It concludes that the module is a major contribution to the information superhighway.
About the Author
A A Agbormbai is the editor and webmaster of the world's most recent personal and professional problem solving site (http://www.triplacc.com/) - a web site that fills a vacuum on the Net. He has a PhD from Imperial College London and enjoys an interdisciplinary upbringing having worked or studied in aerospace engineering, information systems development, and management. The educational solutions module (http://www.triplacc.com
The aim of this article is to introduce to the world the educational solutions module (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/education.html) of the world's most recent personal and professional problem solving site (http://www.triplacc.com/). The article is addressed to those readers who may have an educational problem bogging them and who may therefore be looking for a way out of their predicament. The reader may be a parent, child, or student.
The approach that we have adopted below is to describe competitive offerings, the customer profile, problem-oriented solutions, target markets, product offerings, and usability features.
Competitive Offerings
The following are the top educational sites on the Internet, along with their offerings.
US Department of Education (http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml). It defines the US education policy and provides information on financial aid, educational research and statistics, grants and contracts, and teaching and learning resources.
Educational Testing Service. It provides a range of test resources.
FunBrain.com (http://www.funbrain.com/). It provides educational games for K-8 kids. PrimaryGames.com (http://www.primarygames.com/). It provides fun learning tools and games for kids. GEM (http://www.thegateway.org/). It provides educational resources such as lesson plans and other teaching and learning resources.
Education World (http://www.education-world.com/). It provides advice on lesson plans, professional development, and technology integration.
NASA Education Enterprise (http://education.nasa.gov/home/index.html). It provides educational materials and information relating to space exploration. Spartacus Educational (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/). It is a British online encyclopedia that focuses on historical topics. Department for Education and Skills (http://www.dfes.gov.uk/). It is a UK government department site that offers information and advice on various educational and skills topics. Times Educational Supplement (http://www.tes.co.uk/). It offers teaching news, teaching & educational resources, and active forums to help UK teachers. All these sites are useful in the domains that they cover. Their main limitations are as follows:
1. They tend to cover only a very narrow segment of the educational market. 2. They do not take as their starting point the daily educational needs of the typical family. 3. They lack a problem focus; i.e., they do not formulate the typical learning and educational problems that pupils, students, and parents face on a daily basis. 4. As a result of the preceding point, the solutions offered are not as incisive (i.e. as problem-centred) as they could be. 5. They do not offer merchant products that deepen the visitor's understanding of her problem and of the consequent solutions.
The educational solutions module (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/education.html) of the world's most recent personal and professional problem solving site (http://www.triplacc.com/) addresses these problems by targeting a multiplicity of market segments, adopting a customer profile that fits the typical education-pursuing family, considering the specific needs or problems that this family may face, offering incisive (problem-centred) solutions to the various problems, and offering a range of merchant products that deepen the visitor's appreciation of her problems and of the solutions that are applicable to them.
Customer Profile
The customer profile or target visitor characteristics of the educational solutions module (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/education.html) is the same as for all specialist sites of the world's most recent personal and professional problem solving site (http://www.triplacc.com/). The site has been designed to meet the needs of visitors who have an educational problem bogging them. It is designed for both males and females, even though it is often convenient to refer to just one sex when writing.
This visitor uses search engines to research information about her personal or professional problem, with the intention of finding solutions to it. The visitor is serious about solving her problem and is therefore willing to buy products that help her to achieve her mission, provided that she can find reliable and honest information about relevant products so that she can make an informed decision about which ones to acquire. This information will help her to apply her finances economically, and hence avoid wasting money.
The visitor will want a money-back guarantee so that if a product does not live up to expectations or if she were misled into buying a product she can get a refund. Such a guarantee absolves her of purchase risks.
The visitor is intelligent (without necessarily being a genius), educated (without necessarily being a PhD), computer literate (without necessarily being a computer guru), and money-minded (without necessarily being a freebie hunter or an unemployed person). This of course does not mean that freebie hunters or unemployed persons cannot gain a thing from the site. To the contrary, there is a great deal of free information on the site. Just that it is hard to see how anyone can gain the full benefits of the site without buying products.
The visitor wants high quality information products (usually in digital form) and wants to pay the cheapest price for these (without paying so much emphasis on price that she compromises quality). The visitor also wants free bonus offers that are attached to the purchased goods.
The visitor is self-reliant and can cope on her own by reading, digesting, and applying advice about her problem until she solves it or discovers that she needs help from a professional, at which point her acquired knowledge will help her to reduce her consulting fees. As a result of the knowledge gained, the visitor will be able to assess consultants in order to avoid incompetent or fraudulent ones.
Problem-Centred Solutions
Our free solutions are organised in the form of pragmatic articles that are written by top experts. Each article addresses a specific daily problem, but does not go into detail. It explains the problem and tells the visitor what she must do to solve her problem. However, it does not tell the visitor how she must solve it - this is too much for an article. To find out about the how, the visitor must buy a product (usually an e-book or e-book set) that goes into greater depth.
The set of educational articles that we have chosen, to provide initial solution to a visitor's problem are as follows:
Signs of a Gifted Child (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/signs.html) - Informs parents on how to identify whether or not their children are gifted.
Essential Parenting Lessons for Enriching Your Child's Education (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/parenting.html) - Teaches parents how to enhance their child's education.
Using Positive Affirmations to Be a Better Student (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/positive-affirmations.html) - Teaches students how to use positive affirmations to improve their performance.
They Are Just Afraid of Writing (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/writing.html) - Teaches writing skills to students
How Can Parents Encourage Their Children to Read? (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/encourage.html) - Shows parents how they can improve their children's reading skills.
Test Preparation Tutoring (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/test-prep.html) - Discusses the topic of tutoring students to prepare for tests or exams.
Test Taking Strategies (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/test-taking.html) - Discusses various strategies for taking and passing tests or exams
Playing and Winning the Scholarship Game (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/scholarship-game.html) - Describes how to win scholarships.
How to Get a Scholarship to a UK University (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/uk-scholarships.html) - Describes how to win scholarships to a UK university.
Saving Money for College (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/saving-money.html) - Instructs students on how they can save money in preparation for college.
Student Loans: When Your Educational Dreams Can't Compete with the Cost (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/student-loans-0.html) - Explains to students the benefits of a student loan.
Education Loans Can Fund a Higher Degree to Boost Your Career (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/higher-degree.html) - Also explains to students the benefits of a student loan.
The Secret to US Department of Education Loans (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/usdoe-loans.html) - Teaches students how to get a US DoE loan to finance their higher education.
Student Loan Consolidation - Save Money, Pay Less, Spend More (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/student-loans.html) - Explains to graduates how to make use of loan consolidation to reduce their student loan repayments.
Higher Education: Finding the Right College for You (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/higher-education.html) - Explains to students how to find the right college or university for their higher education studies.
Mobile Learning - An Alternative Worth Considering (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/mobile.html) - Explains the concept of mobile learning and its place in education.
Online Degrees - Is Online Education Right for You? (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/online.html) - Analyses the merits of online learning as compared to traditional learning.
An Online College Education Overview (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/online-college.html) - Reviews the whole concept of online learning.
Finding the Right Quotation for Your Paper or Speech Online (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/quotation.html) - Shows writers and speakers how to find the right quotation to use in their writings or speeches.
Collaboration: An Important Leadership Development Skill (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/collaboration.html) - Explores the useful concept of collaboration and its role in leadership development.
At the end of each article is a list of merchant products that supplement the article's content. A link is also included for accessing the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Target Markets and Product Offerings
Now let us turn to the target markets and their associated product offerings. We have positioned the segments to address the various needs of a visitor over a period of time, and at any given time a customer may belong to one or more of the market segments. There are three general classes of products offered: ClickBank products (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html), Google products, and eBay products. Google and eBay products are presented on each page of the site. ClickBank products are grouped into product categories that match the target markets. These categories and their markets are as follows.
Children and Parenting. This consists of visitors who want parenting solutions for improving their children's upbringing. Their needs are met through the Children and Parenting section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Difficult Admissions. This consists of visitors who want to learn how to get admission into top universities. Their needs are met through the Difficult Admissions section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Esoteric Needs. This consists of visitors with unusual needs. Their needs are met through the Esoteric Needs section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Financial Aid. This consists of visitors looking for scholarships, grants, or loans. Their needs are met through the Financial Aid section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Leadership Skills. This consists of visitors looking to develop their leadership skills. Their needs are met through the Leadership Skills section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Learning. This consists of visitors who want to improve their learning ability. Their needs are met through the Learning section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Mental Speed. This consists of visitors who want to explode their mental speed. Their needs are met through the Mental Speed section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Positive Affirmations. This consists of visitors who want to transform their negative dispositions into a positive mindset in order to improve their performance. Their needs are met through the Positive Affirmations section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Speaking. This consists of visitors looking to improve their speaking skills. Their needs are met through the Speaking section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Tests and Exams. This consists of visitors looking to master exam technique. Their needs are met through the Tests and Exams section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Writing. This consists of visitors looking to improve their writing skills. Their needs are met through the Writing section of the educational product catalogue (http://www.triplacc.com/products/educational-pc.html).
Conclusion
This article has introduced the educational solutions module (http://www.triplacc.com/educational/education.html) of the world's most recent personal and professional problem solving site (http://www.triplacc.com/). The article has examined competitive offerings, the target customer profile, problem-oriented solutions, target markets, and product offerings. It concludes that the module is a major contribution to the information superhighway.
About the Author
A A Agbormbai is the editor and webmaster of the world's most recent personal and professional problem solving site (http://www.triplacc.com/) - a web site that fills a vacuum on the Net. He has a PhD from Imperial College London and enjoys an interdisciplinary upbringing having worked or studied in aerospace engineering, information systems development, and management. The educational solutions module (http://www.triplacc.com
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