diy-tipp

Archiv für Januar 2011

The spring season is a great time for small business and residential customers to take charge of their Texas electricity costs.

Have you ever changed your cell phone rate plan? If you are like most people, the answer is yes. But the funny thing is – More than half of Texas consumers have not taken advantage of competitive electricity prices made available through deregulation and they continue to be served by their incumbent utilities. That’s like staying on the same cell phone rate plan from the day you got your first cell phone. It simply doesn’t make sense.

The Texas deregulated energy marketplace enables customers to more easily and confidently evaluate options for selecting a new Retail Electric Provider (REP) based on lower rates, the use of “greener” power sources, different contract lengths or other offers. For consumers, switching is free and without risk. If consumers see an attractive offer they want to accept, they can make the switch to a new REP without worrying about a loss of power or change in customer service levels. The wires company that maintains their wires and delivers the electricity to the home will continue to be the same company – the only thing that changes is who sends you a bill.

Just as the Internet has made it easier for people to compare mortgages, travel rates and other services, ChooseEnergy.com has developed a compare and buy site that offers a trusted and objective comparison of available Texas electricity providers for residential and small commercial customers. Plus, the spring season is a great time to lock in a lower Texas electricity rate. Texas electricity prices usually track with natural gas costs, and natural gas is traditionally lower in shoulder months during the fall and spring season, before consumer demand increases during the hot summer Texas heat.

Each deregulated area of Texas has more than 10 retail providers, including several incumbent utilities to choose from. Customers should shop around to find the best rate and best plan for their home or business. Some people may feel more comfortable with a shorter term, while others may want the insurance of a fixed rate for a longer period of time and want to sign up for a long-term plan. Either way, consumers in deregulated areas should get to know their options and select a plan that fits their needs.

Just like cell phone providers like AT&T or Sprint – Retail electric providers bid on  electricity business and may personalize their bids to each customer or modify their offers and terms as often as they wish. For instance, electricity retailers may offer exceptionally competitive rates tied to longer term contracts to attract customers in a targeted geographic area or offer a renewable energy product for the same price as you are currently paying. The number of retail electricity providers has steadily increased since deregulation began in 2002 so you will need to do some homework to find the plan that suits your needs the best.

Just as you change your cell phone rate plan, with deregulation in the Texas electric market, you need to do the same with your electric bill. Shop around and lower your rate before the summer heat forces you to use more electricity and your electric bill gets out of hand.

1. Make use of article distribution sites. This is one of the fastest, and most straightforward ways of getting your content ‘out there’ and absorb by websites. Do it as soon as you have enough original content. Don’t go for too many, just select about 3 article distributions sites and submit away (I like EzineArticles, IdeaMarketers and GoArticles).

2. Insert images into your web pages. I checked my logs and I have proof that images draw in a lot of ‘extra’ traffic. People search for images as well as web pages. So if your web page is about ‘how to buy a laptop’ and you have a picture named ‘how-to-buy-a-laptop.jpg’ – you will cover both the image searches and text searches.

3. Participate very actively in ONE forum. If you participate in an online forum, you will slowly build credibility with your web readers. Don’t spam – please – just contribute and solve others’ problems. And my style is to select only ONE forum to participate in. That way, you can build up your contribution base very quickly. If folks see you have 1000 posts in a forum, they tend to read what you say. And that means they are more likely to click your links or signature.

4. Send out your newsletter regularly. This is another important point. I personally fail to send my SBI newsletter regularly and it is costing me traffic. If you judiciously send your newsletter out, you get more and more traffic because folks come in to your website, read the latest articles and spread the word around. You also load a fresh copy of your newsletter in the SBI site so folks can search and find your newsletter page.

5. Respond to emails your readers write. Try to make it a point to solve problems and answer your readers emails. Trust me, if you build credibility this way, soon the word gets around and you will get more traffic.

6. Write more content everyday. Try to commit to write 2 articles a day. Don’t give up – writing consistently is the surest way to build traffic over time. Keep it up, don’t give up!

7. Don’t try to do small tricks. Ok, this is not exactly a way to build traffic. But it does indirectly focus your energy and time, so in way, you will do the correct things to build traffic. What I mean here is to avoid doing small tricks to get traffic. For example, posting answers on Yahoo Answers, posting stuff at WikiHow, setting up scam auctions to attract people to your eBay page containing your URL – stuff like that. These things, when added up, take up a tremendous amount of time. Instead, cut away all these time wasters and just write those 2 articles a day. Then distribute them to an article directory.

8. Set goals. It is very important to set goals in this Internet stuff. I used to plod away randomly day to day writing content. Now I know better. I set a goal of 50 fresh articles per month. What I do is set up folders everyday in my laptop (e.g. ‘20 May 2008, ‘21 May 2008′). I make sure that every one of those folders gets filled with 2 articles a day. That way, I will surely meet my goal each month. 50 articles a month = 600 articles a year – believe me, the traffic WILL come with that volume of content.

9. Choose a topic where you can write a lot of ‘how-to’. Here is something I learnt from experience. I know a lot of you choose SBI website topics based on your passion and interests. However, I’d like to add one more tip to guarantee greater success in building traffic. Choose a theme where you can write a LOT of ‘how-to’ articles. Why? Because ‘how-to’ articles build credibility. And they’re easy to write. For example, for one of my sites, I chose a topic on digital photography (heck of a lot of ‘how-to’ I can write there). On another site, I chose a topic on baby strollers (there is not much ‘how-to’ I could write there). Needless to say, I closed down the baby stroller website.

10. Faith and passion. I don’t mean to make this sound like spiritual advice, but having faith in your SBI site is very important in building traffic. Faith and passion is the fuel that will make you come back to write articles day in and day out. So keep that plenty of that fuel there inside you. One day, you WILL succeed.

You may have heard about radiant floor heating before, but still aren’t quite sure about whatâ it all about. In fact, to you the traditional forced air system seems fine and you donâ  want to go into the trouble as well as expense of installing a radiant floor heating system. But, you are sure to change this mindset of yours no sooner than you come across the benefits of a radiant floor heating system.
However, before we move onto the benefits of a radiant floor heating system, let us first find out what a radiant floor heating system actually is. In case of a forced air system, the air is heated in a central furnace. On the flip side, in case of a radiant floor heat, youâ ll find the heating element underneath the floor so as to generate heat which radiates up from the ground.
In fact, you will be surprised to know that it is the non moving air which offers some of the best advantages of radiant floor heating. Heating air followed by moving it in and around the house leads to a number of problems. To begin with, it needs ducts, which may get dirty with time. These dirty ducts are a breeding place for allergens. This may be mitigated somewhat through routine duct cleaning. But then, this approach involves a lot of expense and involves hassle as well. On the other hand, radiant floor heating offers heat without any added allergens.

Another benefit of these systems is the uniformity of the heat.  By nature, forced air systems are irregular. This implies that they turn on as well as off on a consistent basis for generating heat for the room. However, by adhering to this approach, the heat is not distributed evenly in the room. Whatâ even worse is that the heat comes out through a small duct positioned in a single part of the room. This in turn leads to hot as well as cold spots in the room. If you donâ  believe my words then you can ask anybody who has at least one of these two systems in their house.
Radiant floor heating resolves this problem by generating heat throughout the room.  As the complete floor is radiated, you won’t find a single portion of the room that isnâ  warm.   In other words, it is pretty pleasurable to feel the heat generated by this system.  These systems are generally quiet as they donât have any noisy ducts. Over and above, if you install them in the right manner, then it turns out to be energy efficient as well.
If you find any of these interesting enough, then you are free to learn more about radiant floor heating systems. Installing them is a tedious job and often expensive as well. However, if you are constructing a new house or if you are planning to upgrade to an improved way of heating, then you can give radiant systems a try! Donât delay any further, get up and go and bring home a new radiant floor heating system now

What Do I Need to Know Before Building My New Garage?

Garage sizes must characterize the backyard setting. In various locations even a small shed may not be allowed so be sure to review your shed or garage building plans with your local building inspector. The inspector may require detailed garage plans and may also require a material list. How do I obtain a material list you ask? If you are not familiar with the process consider working with a local garage builder. Another excellent source to investigate also gives material lists free of charge. This is your local building material suppliers.

Your garage building contractor will determine with you the foundation style that is right for your soils and budget.

Determine before building your new garage if electrical will be added in the future. Running conduit ahead of time is much easier if your power supply is to be located underground. Have an electrical plan or draw the desired lighting and outlets onto your garage’s floor plan.

Determining your garage building features requires a few questions to be answered. Lets demonstrate an example for you.

Your garage plans size?
The roof style?
The roof slope?
The roof overhang?
The gable roof overhang distance?
Your wall height?
The wall thickness?
Quantity of windows?
Window locations?
Window Size?
Quantity of doors?
Door Size?
Glass lites in door?
Quantity of garage doors?
Overhead door size(s)

The Advantages of “Custom”
So why should you choose custom curtains over storebought curtains?

If you are unfamiliar with what exactly makes a custom window treatment (or any other custom-made fabric product for your home) so different from its storebought counterpart, this article might be useful to read before you start the custom design process.

The following are some of the most important advantages of purchasing custom, not storebought:

See it to believe it. We all know the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Unfortunately, with custom window treatments, that saying doesn’t quite apply. Many of the factors that make a custom window treatment so extra special can’t be seen in a picture. Custom draperies, for example, are fully lined, making them fuller and heavier. Custom draperies weigh about 2 – 2.5 pounds per panel on average, whereas the same size, unlined storebought curtain weighs less than a pound. Of course, there are some storebought curtains that are lined. Unfortunately, most are lined with cotton percale fabric, which is a thin sheeting fabric with a low thread count. While it may help to block out the sun and prevent fading to some extent, it does little to add fullness to a drapery.

Lining makes the difference. Custom draperies are lined with a thicker polycotton fabric that blocks the sun in the best way possible (up to SPF 50). The polyester component in the lining gives a drapery more strength and fullness. Lining is especially useful in rooms that experience more moisture and evaporative fumes. That’s because cotton captures and releases these fumes much easier, making lined window treatments a must in busy kitchens and bathrooms. As you see, the ideal lining is made of both cotton and polyester.

Tailored to your needs. Custom window treatments are made especially for your room the way you’d like. Storebought curtains are designed to please the majority of consumers. These include curtains that are made with solid, neutral colors and standard sizes. If you need to dress a very wide nursery window in pink and brown toile fabric, you will have a hard time finding the perfect window treatment that you want. Decorator fabrics come in a wide range of colors, prints, and sizes, giving you endless custom options that most storebought curtains don’t offer.

A wise investment. On average, Americans who purchased custom window treatments keep their custom drapes on their windows for seven years. Storebought curtains are changed every one to two years. The quality of custom window treatments is better, but going after the look that you really want instead of the look that is available will also keep you happy with your room for many years longer. Many of our clients tell us what a relief it is to finally see a custom window treatment on their windows. Unique window treatments are not easy to find if you’re looking for a specific look to fit your room. Most consumers start designing their rooms with matching furniture, pictures, walls, and little accents, only to see their designs come to a screeching halt when they realize that they can’t find a matching curtain.

There are many more reasons why custom is better than storebought, but the most important one of them is simply value. Custom window treatments pay for themselves throughout all the years that they gracefully cover your windows