Pack a Mail Blog

Project Reviews.
Project reviews are primarily a project manager’s tool for monitoring progress at a practical level. They also consider current and potential problems and can be used to consider corrective action, where appropriate.

 These meetings can be pre-planned or convened to address situations where there is some concern over the projects status. The task leaders should assist their sub-project manager (SPM) through ongoing monitoring of the work in hand and by assimilating the required progress information.

The involvement of all relevant project team staff should be sought, to ensure that all potential problems or bottlenecks are considered. Team members should be asked to describe the progress and any problems that have occurred since the last review.

The SPM is responsible for convening and chairing project reviews that relate to their sub-project. These meetings should be seen as an open forum for discussing and analyzing progress information and addressing team members concerns. The SPM is responsible for deriving the detailed content of the sub-project plans. These plans should include the suggested format and frequency of project reviews in relation to each sub-project.

The progress reports should be compiled by, or on behalf of, the SPM. The bulk of the information for these reports is likely to be derived following a project review – which represents an excellent opportunity for a two-way flow of related information.

It is the project manager’s responsibility to analyze and collate the progress reports and use this information, along with other intelligence to compile and present regular highlight reports to the project owner.

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Borders on a picture can make a big difference and with Photoshop  you can add borders with little difficulties, once you learn how to do it. Follow these steps to make your image stand out from the rest of the page with a cool Photoshop border.
Step 1 – Start Photoshop and open the image that you want to add a border to.

Step 2 - To create a border around the entire picture, open the Select menu and choose Select All. To create a border around a certain section, use the Selection tool in the toolbar and select the area you want.

Step 3 – From the Select menu, choose Modify and then Border. In the dialog box, choose the pixel size of your border

Step 4 – Locate the color palette on the left-hand side of the screen. Click on the top square and select a border color from the palette. Click OK.

Step 5 – Select Fill from the Edit menu. In the dialog box, choose the options to apply to the border.

Step 6 – Click OK to view the border. If the results aren’t what you want, select Undo from the Edit menu to remove the fill, then try again.

Step 7 – Use the Save As command in the File menu to save the new picture.

Tips & Warnings:

• The greater the pixel size, the thicker the border.
• To create a splattered-looking border, select Dissolve from the Options section of the Fill command.
• Before editing a picture, save the file under a different name by selecting Save As from the File menu. This allows you to edit the picture without worrying about the original.

I dislike password restrictions. Passwords may be a necessarily evil, but they’re more repulsive when a perfectly reasonable key is rejected.

We’ve all seen “errors” such as:

• your password is too short
• your password must contain letters and numbers only
• your password must be between 8 and 10 characters,
• use letters with at least one in uppercase, and have between one and four numbers.
• Please close your eyes, face north and recite Shakespeare while typing it. (well, perhaps not this one…..!)

Then, after you’ve spent 3 hours devising a reasonable password which adheres to the rules, you’re forced to change it again 7 days later.

I can understand banks and Government departments don’t want novices choosing “password” as their secret key, but are users so naive? (OK, don’t answer that.) Actually, “password” could be a reasonable option: do hackers bother trying it? One of the best passwords I ever defined had zero characters — no one ever attempted to enter nothing!

Does your Twitter client, photo gallery or blog comments form really require a password restriction? There are a number of issues with the approach:

1. It’s an irritation for users — especially those who understand the security implications.
2. Strict rules provide hackers with a template — they know not to bother trying passwords which are less than 8 characters, more than 12, have no numbers, etc.
3. The rules make passwords far more difficult to remember — especially if you’re forced to change them regularly. Many users will simply write it down on a post-it note and stick it to their screen.
4. If you specify what constitutes a “good” password, does it mean you’re partly responsible when a user’s account is compromised?

In my opinion, users should be allowed to choose whatever password they want. You can show a warning message when an easily-broken password is entered but, if they want the letter ‘p’, why not let them use it?

If you can’t trust users to enter a decent password, don’t let them choose one: create a random string and post it to them via email or snail mail.

Do you use password restrictions on your system? Has it been more or less successful than no restrictions whatsoever?

Google is set to release an updated version of its Keyword Tool which will combine features of the Keyword Tool (primarily for AdWords users) with features of the Search-based Keyword Tool (which is based on actual Google search queries) to create one of the most comprehensive and valuable keyword research tool on the Web today. It might just be the greatest keyword tool of all time.

The new Keyword Tool offers flexible search options, enabling users to search by any combination of keyword, website/URL, and category and receive a single set of results. Users will also be able to filter result by word or keyword match type, and even view statistics for mobile search and use data filter based on local search, as well as search and ad share. It might just be the greatest keyword tool of all time.

Google also added some new features based on user feedback including the ability to remove duplicate keywords (which appear with an “Already in Ad Group” message) and the ability to add negative keywords automatically to your account from your keyword idea list.

The depth and value the upcoming tool provides kind of makes me wonder about the viability of commercial keyword research services. If Google dominates the search and ad space, what do the others know that Google doesn’t? Do you even need to consider using alternative providers? Is Google’s upcoming keyword tool the greatest keyword tool of all time? Share your comments

Maybe you started a blog and haven’t kept up with regular posts. Or you post regularly, but haven’t been able to build the reader community that you wanted to develop. Or maybe your blog just looks old and tired. As long as your blog is sleeping and not dead (give it a nudge to make sure), there’s hope!

Here are a few fairly painless ways to give your blog an energy boost and get yourself excited about blogging again in the process.

Check Site Analytics for Clues
Your first step should be checking your site analytics (if you don’t have an analytics tool set up, now is the time to do it) and your feed stats to see how people are finding your blog and what they’re reading. This will give you a good idea about what to focus on in terms of content.

Your blog’s awakening may be as simple as writing more on a specific topic, adding a new category or working on using more SEO-friendly keywords.

Change Your Theme
It may seem superficial, but blogs are often judged on their looks. If your blog has confusing navigation, an ugly header or just lacks something to draw readers in, it’s a great candidate for a fresh theme. If you’re using WordPress, there are so many free themes to chose from, and a number of excellent premium themes that can literally change the first impression your blog makes overnight.

You may also want to consider including more images within your posts, and possibly selecting a theme that uses thumbnails throughout the blog. Pictures work!

Line Up a Guest Blogger
If you’re struggling to post consistently, don’t have the knowledge and experience on a specific topic, or just want to add some variety, guest bloggers could be an option. It’s not always easy to find good guests, especially if you’re still trying to shake the cobwebs off your blog. But if you’re successful, the positive results can have a lasting impact.

Put the Focus on Your Readers
If you feel like you’re talking to an empty stadium, it may be because you’re not inviting anyone else to participate. Try relating your posts back to your readers by asking targeted questions when relevant.

Polls, contests and other reader-focused activities are a great way to build engagement, too. A captive audience won’t gather overnight, but with time and consistency, you will see a gradual change.

Post Something Controversial
One way to shake up a quiet blog is to get people fired up. Take a stand on a hot topic, post a rebuttal to a popular blogger’s perspective, talk about alternative ideas, or whatever it takes to generate some traffic and activity around your blog. Be warned that once you do this, the pressure is on to continue the fire with future posts, and you may have a lot of passionate comments to field (not a bad thing!).

Use Social Media
Get your blog set up to feed into your Twitter, Facebook and other social networking accounts, and be open to having dialogue about your posts off your blog. That’s right, all engagement and interaction doesn’t have to take place within your blog comments. It’s a win if you’re able to encourage people to click through and hopefully continue to follow along.

Add Video
Give your readers some great information and a peek at the “live” you. A video blog post here and there can not only make you more relatable and real, but you may be able to pull in the interest of a whole new audience.

There are a lot of ways to rejuvenate a sleeping blog. If you’re willing to go through some trial and error as you test out new ideas, consistently post relevant content and give your readers what they want, you’ll eventually hit your mark and be able to keep your blog awake and alert.

Have you experienced a comatose blog? What have you done to make your blog function more effectively?