Here’s a networking tip for when you’re – out and about at Chamber or networking luncheons  spreading the word about your business. Instead of chatting briefly and exchanging business cards, ask this, “If I were talking to someone who needed your services, what should I say to them?” This gives them the opportunity to give you their 30 second commercial touting their business. Everyone loves to talk about themselves and their business. Then ask them for 10 of their business cards instead of one. Why? Because it says to them that you’re interested in networking with them, instead of just marketing to them directly – like every other sales rep they’ve ever met. It sets you apart.

When you think about it, everyone has – a sphere of influence. When you say word of mouth is the best way to grow your business, how do you get that prospect or client to spread the word about your business? It all starts by showing an interest in their business, providing solutions that help them, and above all – great customer service. You’ll never be able to reach their sphere of influence on your own. Ask them for referrals (their sphere of influence) immediately after the sale. They’ve just said YES to your product or service. They know, like and trust you. Take it one step further. Ask them to let the person they just referred to you know that you’ll be calling.

All sales reps know that you have to ask for the sale. The same principle applies in networking – you have to ask for the referral.

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What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Unless it's 15,000 network geeks loose at Cisco Live! 2011 - in which case, what happens in Vegas proliferates on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs. Here's are some highlights and links from the event.
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Everyone's talking and tweeting about Twitter. But, sadly, most tweets are either meaningless drivel or they are useful information that gets ignored or not noticed by the intended audience. This article explains how to make sure your little 140-character bursts get noticed, passed around among friends and associates within your...
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Virtual private servers (VPS) – have historically offered some middle ground between shared web hosting services and dedicated hosting services, both in control and cost, but recently the gap in cost between virtual and dedicated servers has diminished … making upgrades from shared to dedicated web hosting very attractive.

A virtual private server separates you from – other customers on a physical web server, running on a copy of its own operating system, but it shares CPU and RAM resources of the physical web server with other VPSs running on that server.

A dedicated server, on the other hand, is – a physical web server leased and controlled by the end client, without sharing physical CPU and RAM resources with other sites. Its very much like owning your own server, without the huge capital asset investment.

Most hosts offer a mix of unmanaged versus managed services for dedicated servers. Unmanaged plans typically offer the basics – the hardware, operating system, control panel and Internet connection.

In a VPS, a single physical server is partitioned – so that it appears as multiple servers. The physical server boots normally, then runs a program to boot each VPS within a virtualization environment.

There are two kinds of virtualizations – software and hardware based. Software based environments share the same kernel and require the main node’s resources. In a web hosting environment, quota incrementing and decrementing in real time is possible without restarting the node. In a hardware based virtualization, real hardware resources are partitioned, eliminating burst or real time quota modification. This lends to a (potentially) more secure environment.

With a dedicated server, you have – more flexibility and control. Dedicated servers have historically been the server of choice for complex business or high end eCommerce sites, but have recently become very popular substitutes for VPS servers and less complex solutions.

Dedicated servers housed in data centers offer – redundant power sources, HVAC sytems, state of the art security and advanced performance services.

The bottom line: Moving websites from a shared environment to either a VPS or dedicated server is a significant event. Its a major upgrade in the IT infrastructure supporting your business. Whereas the move from shared to dedicated was historically cost-prohibitive, and VPS offered some middle ground, technology has rapidly evolved to narrow that gap.

Upgrading should be based on more than cost

Upgrading your IT technology, in this case to VPS or dedicated is now a business decision based on more than cost. It’s based on resources you control that will map your business success for years or decades.

With the price gap narrowing, dedicated services are rapidly becoming the plan of choice for business savvy entreprenuers.

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CenturyLink (CTL) is suddenly one of the largest players in the data center business. After completing its purchase of Savvis, the company now owns 48 data centers in North America, Europe and Asia with more than 1.9 million square feet of raised floor space.
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When designing a survey, it is important that you consider what you are trying to achieve. Surveys will not produce accurate results without a carefully thought out design. You must ensure that your questions will apply to the audience and that they are clear and constructive to the readers.
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