John Dilbeck Musings

Cognigen agents now have the ability to market and sell long distance service to Canadian residents. Canadian long distance services will be provided by Cognigen’s alliance with one of our newest vendors, Convergia Networks.

Convergia is a world-class provider of voice, data, and Internet services for residential, business and wholesale customers. Using their state-of-the-art switching facilities and end-to-end network, Convergia presents the fullest potential of today’s broadband revolution. By introducing leading edge and innovative products and services, establishing global alliances, and always striving to improve existing business, Convergia is changing how the world communicates.

• Convergia offers Tier 1 voice quality to calls anywhere in the world
• Long distance calls across North America for as little as 4.9 cents per minute
• International toll free available
• Save more than 70% on international calls
• Huge savings on International calls via our own privately held network that spans over 152 points of presence in 45 countries
• Detailed electronic billing using our state of the art billing platform
• Choose between direct billing and credit card payment options

If you live in Canada, look into what Convergia offers you.

Opex has long been a very competitive long distance offering for Cognigen customers, and now Opex has raised the bar by lowering their interstate long distance rates to an incredible 2.95 cents per minute.

Residential customers are billed in full minute increments, and business customers are billed in 6 second increments with an 18 second minimum call duration. The monthly fee is waived if long distance usage is over $20 in a month, otherwise it is a very low $2.00.

Note that this rate is also available to business customers. Most business customers today are paying 3 to 4 times more than this for long distance.

Save money at work and at home with Opex long-distance phone service.

Cognigen agents now have the opportunity to market Packet8, 8×8’s broadband phone service for both business and residential subscribers. Using high-speed connections to make voice and video calls over the Internet, Broadband Phone (a.k.a., VoIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol) is one the biggest growth industries around and Packet8 is ranked as one of the top three services available.

Packet8 is an affordable and easy-to-use broadband telephone and videophone service. Designed with both residential and business customers in mind, Packet8 allows anyone with broadband (high-speed digital, DSL, or Cable, but not dial-up) Internet access to use their regular phone to make UNLIMITED calls to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada for as little as $19.95 per month. Packet8 subscribers with videophones can make video calls for as little as $29.95 per month. All Packet8 subscribers get world wide UNLIMITED calling to other Packet8 subscribers at no extra charge.

Do you want broadband Internet access? Comparison shop at ShopforDSL, and get ready for VoIP.

Over the years, drawing from a wide range of sources, I’ve learned some of the art of building a website that actually earns a profit instead of dying with no traffic.

It hasn’t been easy to find the information and separate the worthwhile from the worthless. Sometimes they’re hard to tell apart before you put them to the test and see for yourself what the results are.

One thing I’ve learned is to listen to Ken Evoy. As time goes by, I listen less to others and more to him.

Why? Because I’m earning money following his advice and often losing money following the advice of others. Plus, I just like reading what he writes. I like his style and the fact that he is devoted to not only building his own company, but also to helping as many others as he can to build their own successful online businesses.

You’ve heard me rave about Make Your Site Sell! and Site Build It!. I’m a very happy customer after buying both of these products and others he offers. When I find something that works, I want to learn as much about it as I can so I can put it to work for me as much as possible.

Ken has just released a new ebook — Make Your Content PREsell! If it had been available, and if I’d know what I do now, I’d have jumped at the chance to purchase this book.

In a little over 130 pages, Ken condenses what he’s learned about designing and building a website that earns money.

It doesn’t have nearly the amount of content as Make Your Site Sell!, but it sells for one-third the price. It isn’t an in-depth guide like MYSS, but more like a “here’s how you do it” kind of friend-leading-a-friend guide for someone who wants to get started or for someone who has tried and not succeeded.

It will help you get started on the right foot rather than floundering or wasting time and money going down the wrong path.

Ken reiterates that it’s quality content that attracts free visitors through the search engines and that content presells by establishing your credibility as a person who knows what you write about. It’s that credibility that presells your visitors and helps convert them into happy customers — over time.

I just finished reading the book. It has excellent insight into what it takes to make a profitable website. He gives numerous, easy to understand examples that make the whole process clearer.

This is NOT a get-rich-quick book.

Ken explains the concepts and tasks that are necessary to build a site, and these things take time and effort. This ebook will shortcut the time it takes to reach profitability, if you read it, learn from it, and put it to work.

The best news? It’s only $10 USD. Not $100. Not $30. Only $10.

Buy it for yourself and tell your friends and family about this great deal.

If you want to build an online business and you’re not willing to spend $10 to learn from someone who has already learned the hard way, you might as well reconsider your dedication to online marketing, and do something else.

As with all his products, it comes with a money-back guarantee if you don’t like it. Where’s the risk?

While it’s too late to change some of my big sites, what I learned in this book will definitely shape my approach to building new sites.

This book teaches the concepts and approaches to marketing and communicating, not the technical things like HTML, FTP, CSS, and the like. There are other books that cover those things, or you could use Site Build It! to create your site and not have to worry about them.

I personally recommend Make Your Content PREsell!.

Appalachian Heritage Crafters, a non-profit arts and crafts cooperative, is holding a yardsale on Saturday, November 20, 2004, starting at 8:00 am and going most of the day.

A wide variety of items will be available, some at bargain prices.

The members will be selling snacks, coffee and hot chocolate.

Proceeds go to the cooperative to help offset expenses.

Appalachian Heritage Crafters, founded by craftspeople in and around Cherokee County, North Carolina, is a grassroots organization dedicated to preserving and promoting Appalachian crafts and heritage.

The specific purpose of the corporation is to preserve and promote the Appalachian heritage of quality hand-made crafts. This goal is achieved through training programs, educational programs in the schools and senior centers, programs providing outreach to youth and homebound seniors, and programs enabling crafter members to create, market, and sell handmade Appalachian crafts.

You are invited to our yard sale, which will be held at our crafts store, located a couple of miles west of Murphy at 2016 Highway 64 West, Murphy, NC 28906. While you’re there, browse through the items in our store to find great gifts for the holidays.

For more information, visit their website at AHCcrafts.com or call 828-835-3500.

Voting isn’t just a right, it’s a duty.

At this point, I don’t care who you’re voting for, just that you vote. Sure, I’d like for you to agree with me and vote the way I do, but we know that this is going to be one of the closest elections in the history of our country. There are big issues at stake and you have to decide for yourself if our country is heading in the right direction or if it needs to make a big change.

I don’t feel a need to tell anyone who I’m voting for. I will vote in about three hours and I think that is what is important.

If I were a betting man, I’d be willing to bet that we won’t know who our new president is 24 hours from now. However, most of the other races will be settled. Governors, senators, representatives, judges, school boards, and many, many other offices will be decided in the next several hours.

Don’t let anyone take away your right to vote — including yourself.

Go vote.

It’s your duty.