Sudah Lama Kita Diperingatkan Bahaya Mie Instan.

Saat ini berbagai merek mie instan menawarkan berbagai variasi rasa untuk memikat para penggemarnya. Lidah konsumen semakin dimanjakan oleh beragam olahan rasa, dari makanan khas nusantara sampai makanan khas negara lain.

Mie instan merupakan salah satu makanan paling favorit orang Indonesia. Bisa dibilang, hampir semua orang Indonesia pernah merasakan mie instan. Makanan mie olahan ini kerap dijadikan persediaan di rumah-rumah.

Menyantap mie instan tak jarang membuat ketagihan. Sudah lama kita diperingatkan akan bahaya menyantap mie instan.

Namun, tetap saja kita selalu memiliki alasan untuk kembali menyantapnya. Sudah seperti itulah kira-kira orang Indonesia terikat dengan mie instan. Adakah batas toleransi menyantap mir instan?

Meski demikian besarnya kabar negatif tentang mie instan, Ari Fahrial, dokter spesialis penyakit dalam sub spesialis pencernaan menganjurkan menyantap mir instan dalam tahap moderat.

Fahrial tak menganjurkan mir instan untuk disantap sebagai makanan utama. “Sebagai makanan tambahan ok, jangan jadikan (mie instan) sebagai makanan utama sebab gizinya tidak mencukupi,” kata Ari saat dihubungi oleh CNN Indonesia.

Dijelaskan olehnya, mie instan hanya mengandung karbohidrat, meskipun juga terdapat lemak pada minyak mie instan. “Nutrisinya tetap tidak terpenuhi jika hanya menyantap mie instan saja,” ucap Ari menambahkan.

Mie instan pernah pula dikabarkan mengandung zat lilin yang berbahaya jika menempel di usus. Apa sebetulnya yang terjadi saat mie instan berada diproses di dalam tubuh? Ari meluruskan bahwa mir instan akan diproses sama seperti halnya makanan lainnya.

“Orang dengan sakit mag, karena mir instan mengadung ragi maka akan membuatnya magnya kambuh, demikian halnya dengan lada pada bumbu mie instan yang dapat memicu magnya kambuh.”

Oleh sebab itu, sebagai makanan utama mie instan perlu untuk diperhitungkan. “Jika kalori pada sebungkus mie instan 300 kalori, dalam sehari untuk memenuhi kebutuhan kalori masing-masing orang yang berbeda berarti harus menyantap tiga bungkus mir instan, tanpa makanan yang lain.”

Untuk memenuhi kalori yang dibutuhkan tubuh maka diperlukan makanan tambahan lain, seperti telur sebagai asupan protein. Sayuran seperti sawi atau tomat juga bisa ditambahkan sesuai selera untuk memberikan asupan serat dan nutrisi baik lain.

Beberapa orang disarankan oleh Ari tak boleh sembarangan menyantap mie instan. “Orang-orang yang menderita hipertensi sebaiknya membatasi mie instan karena mengandung garam yang tinggi. Juga untuk mereka yang menderita mag karena kandungan ragi pada proses pembuatan mir,” ucap Ari.

Demikian Menguak Kenyataan dari Mitos Mie Instan semoga dengan informasi ini anda tidak terlalu percaya dengan mitos yang telah beredar, kita harus percaya dengan informasi yang valid dan telah dibenarkan.

READ MORE - Sudah Lama Kita Diperingatkan Bahaya Mie Instan.

Kesuksesan Bisnis Rumahan Tergantung Kerjasama Dengan Pasangan

Bisnis rumahan dimana pasangan suami istri menjadi pelakonnya memiliki suatu tantangan tersendiri. Diperlukan banyak kesabaran, pengertian dan kerjasama yang baik dari kedua belah pihak, karena hal ini tidak hanya mempengaruhi kondisi bisnis, tapi juga mempengaruhi psikologi anggota rumah itu sendiri. Berikut adalah beberapa tips kerjasama untuk pasangan suami istri yang sedang mengembangkan bisnis rumahan:

1. Perlakukan segala gangguan secara sama

Jika pasangan anda ingin pergi berlibur di saat-saat sibuk, maka cobalah untuk berpikir lagi. Bisnis rumahan juga memerlukan keseriusan yang sungguh-sungguh jika ingin sukses. Tapi anda tidak boleh longgar terhadap peraturan ini, jika ini keinginan anda. Jika anda menolak ajakan liburan oleh anak anda, maka anda pun harus menerapkan peraturan ini kepada diri anda. Jangan sampai salah satu belah pihak merasa tercurangi karena peraturan yang tidak ditetapkan secara konsisten.

2. Hilangkan ego anda

Untuk pekerjaan apapun, anda perlu sedikit mengurangi rasa egois anda. Jika anda ingin sukses, maka anda harus berani menerima kritik dan saran dari pasangan anda. Sama seperti jika anda mendapatkan penilaian dari rekan kerja dan bos anda di kantor. Jika anda merasa gengsi menerima nasehat dari istri atau suami anda, maka sama saja anda memberikan hambatan kepada kesuksesan anda sendiri. Karena salah satu kunci kesuksesan adalah ma uterus memperbaiki diri. 

Terimalah kenyataan jika pasangan anda lebih memiliki talenta dari pada anda. Berikanlah pujian dan motivasi kepada masing-masing pasangan anda.

3. Definisikan tugas masing-masing

Pembagian tugas yang baik antara pasangan bisa meningkatkan efisiensi dan produktifitas bisnis anda. Sebagai contoh, bagilah tugas siapa yang memegang bagian keuangan, siapa yang memantau produksi atau siapa yang berhadapan dengan pelanggan. Dengan deskripsi kerja yang jelas konflikpun bisa dikurangi.

4. Bagi dan ciptakan solusi dalam masalah

Jika terdapat masalah, maka pecahlah masalah ini menjadi bagian-bagian kecil, kemudian bagilah tugas siapa yang akan memecahkan masalah tersebut sesuai dengan keahlian masing-masing. Tapi perlu di tekankan bahwa anda harus mempercai pasangan anda dalam memecahkan masalah ini. Karena kurangnya rasa kepercayaan akan menimbulkan konflik internal yang akan mempengaruhi ketenangan keluarga.

5. Pisahkan meja kerja

Karena masing-masing memiliki tugas yang berbeda, maka meja kerja pun sebisa mungkin dipisah, sehingga pekerjaan yang satu tidak bercampur dengan yang lain. Pengorganisasian data dan dokumen yang tidak rapi baik di rumah maupun dikantor akan menyebabkan kekacauan.

6. Disiplin

Walaupun anda bekerja di rumah, anda harus tetap disiplin dalam mengerjakan tugas-tugas anda seperti layaknya di kantor. Bukan berarti karena anda dirumah, maka anda bisa seenaknya bersantai. Anda bisa berbisnis tapi bersantai, tapi apakah hasilnya akan maksimal? Anda sendiri yang bisa menjawab.

7. Saling menghargai

         

Jika pasangan anda mencapai suatu prestasi yang bagus, jangan segan untuk memberikan pujian. Pujian sangat penting untuk meningkatkan semangat kerja baik terhadap karyawan maupun dalam hubungan keluarga. Skali-skali berikanlah hadiah kepada pasangan anda, atas berhasilnya suatu pekerjaan yang ia lakukan.

8. Membagi tugas rumahan

Jika pasangan anda memiliki tugas rumahan seperti menjaga anak dan membersihkan rumah, maka berusahalah untuk mengurangi beban kerja bisnis pasangan anda. Intinya adalah adanya pengertian untuk saling membantu satu sama lain. Jangan sampai pasangan merasa diperbudak dengan pekerjaan bisnis dan pekerjaan rumah yang saling memanggil.

Membuat bisnis rumahan dengan pasangan memang sangatlah tidak mudah. Beberapa pengusaha yang sukses pun ada yang berpendapat bahwa jika ingin sukses maka jangan jadikan keluarga sebagai rekan bisnis, karena jika bisnis tersebut gagal, maka akan mempengaruhi hubungan keluarga. Tapi disisi lain, banyak juga para pembisnis besar yang bahan bakar terbesarnya adalah dukungan keluarga. Hal ini menunjukkan tidak ada salahnya menjadikan pasangan sebagai rekan kerja dalam usaha anda.

READ MORE - Kesuksesan Bisnis Rumahan Tergantung Kerjasama Dengan Pasangan

Email Is Not Like Postal Mail

One of the most popular and potentially effective advertising methods is direct email. If you deliver a well- written message and execute delivery properly you will be rewarded with new leads, sales, and traffic to your Web site. If the message is poorly written or you commit a netiquette faux pas, however, your efforts could end in disaster.

If you are new to Internet marketing, you might equate direct email to direct postal mail. The concepts are very similar; in both you broadcast a standard message to a large number of individuals in hopes of receiving positive responses. To the uninitiated, it is logical to assume you can approach the two in the same way. It seems like the only difference is the means of communication. If you are thinking this way, STOP! STOP! STOP!

Many people perceive unsolicited commercial message (UCE) - spam - differently than junk mail from the postal service. The sender pays for direct mail sent through the postal service. Not so for UCE. Spam on the Internet ties up the recipient's resources by using storage space, slowing down systems, and sometimes crashing equipment. For this reason and others, many abhor spam. Some assertively condemn spammers. If you spam you will undoubtedly be reported to your ISP and email provider. Depending on the circumstances, your accounts could be closed and your Web site may be shut down. Need I say it? This is NOT the result you are looking for from your email marketing program.

Some email advertisers feel that as long as there are unsubscribe instructions in the email or they only send one message it is okay to send unsolicited email. A few use never-passed legislative proposals in their defense. In marketing, perception is far closer to reality than loophole rationalizations. Some recipients are offended whether the unsubscribe phrase is there or not and they are offended even when they receive only one message from you.

Different individuals define spam differently. Some consider all forms of UCE or unsolicited commercial postings spam. This means that if you send advertisements without prior permission from the individuals you will get complaints. In all likelihood you will be reported as a spammer. Because service providers generally have user agreements that are stricter than current U.S. state and federal laws, you are likely to be reprimanded, have your site shut down, and/or be put on a blacklist if you send out UCE.

* Spam/UCE Law

As of this writing there are no U.S. federal laws governing UCE. Some states, however, have laws that regulate UCE. These states are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia. Depending on the state, allowable claims range from $10 per message up to unlimited damages. Most state laws allow opt-out procedures. In other words, companies can *legally* add a recipient's email to a list without his/her knowledge as long as a means of removal is provided. For details by state, go to http://law.spamcon.org/us-laws/index.shtml.

International laws are stricter. Seven countries - Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Norway - have opt-in laws. In order to legally send UCE, you must first have the recipient's permission. Other countries have opt- out directives or pending legislation. Euro CAUCE provide details at http://www.euro.cauce.org/en/countries/index.html.

Worldwide, there is much discussion about UCE and laws are changing quickly. There are several sites you can monitor for details about UCE. These include the SpamCon Foundation (law.spamcon.org), the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE, www.cauce.org), and the spam section of The Open Directory Project (dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Abuse/Spam).

READ MORE - Email Is Not Like Postal Mail

Do Backlink Advertising Networks Really Work?

When I first heard of backlink advertising networks, I have to admit I was more than a bit skeptical. Of course backlinks are probably the most important tool in the search engine optimization kit, but buying or acquiring backlinks in an unnatural way has always been something Google and other major search engines do not condone. I took a look at a few networks hoping to find some answers.

The first network I looked at was DigitalPoint's Coop Advertising Network (http://www.digitalpoint.com). DigitalPoint's network allows you to create either banner or text ads that will then be displayed on various websites in the network with an active backlink. Websites receive a "weight" which determines how often they appear on other sites, although it wasn't exactly clear on how a site gains weight. Further reading explained that certain factors such as Alexa Rank and number of pages showing ads may contribute to weight. It was even possible to target your ads by category. I was very impressed with the setup. So, I installed the ad network on a few websites and, sure enough, the system started to churn out backlinks.

After testing out the network, I decided to read what others were saying in their forums. Sure enough, my worst fears were realized. As I suspected, churning out links can have a negative impact on search engine rankings. Various sites complained of being completely dropped from Google or Yahoo's index. The problem, it seems, was that links were not permanent. DigitalPoint's network rotates links as you reload a page so you have no permanent backlinks. I immediately removed the links from my sites, and moved on to analyze the next network.

The next backlink advertising network I found was AdCaliber (http://www.adcaliber.com). I quickly read over their FAQ and was pleased to find that they promised permanent backlinks that only get removed when I choose. Other than that, the system seemed similar to DigitalPoint although it was a bit more flexible in ad targeting. After creating an account, I received 100 credits which I could use to bid for backlinks. Apparently, AdCaliber works on a bidding system. You bid a monthly amount of credits to obtain links on certain sites. For example, I bid 50 credits to obtain links on sites with a Google Pagerank of at least 5 and Alexa Rank of at least 500,000. Then, when an open ad slot appeared on a site matching those qualifications, the highest bidder would get the link. In my case, I would be debited 50 credits per month. I was very impressed with the system. I liked having the ability to target my ads precisely. I was also impressed with the ease of installation. With AdCaliber, you don't have to upload any files to your server. You just simply paste a short PHP code on your website. It was very simple. The only negative thing I have to say about AdCaliber is that it is much newer than DigitalPoint and its network is not as large, therefore not as many backlinks are available yet. 

To sum it all up, DigitalPoint is a very effective backlink advertising network when you are looking to acquire backlinks quickly. I would not use DigitalPoint for long term SEO, though. AdCaliber seems to be your best bet for long term SEO and seems to give you better control over your backlinks.

READ MORE - Do Backlink Advertising Networks Really Work?

Marketing Blunders

Interested in advertising and marketing your web business with ezine articles? Make any of these blunders and you may cut your response in half.

Blunder Number 1: Not including an author's resource box/ezine advertisement 

Yes, there are really authors who don't remember to include an author's resource box (the biography/advertisement at the end of the article). That box is the whole point of distributing articles in the first place. Even if the body of your article has a link to your website, you'll be losing all the clicks from dedicated ezine readers who look for that box at the end of articles they like.

Blunder Number 2: Not including a link in your ezine article's author's resource box 

There are a shocking number of author's who use an author's resource box to include their email address, telephone number, street address, gym locker combination, and everything else but a link to their website. This is a big waste for two reasons:

Few people will contact you directly without seeing your web page first. At that point, people just aren't motivated enough. All they know about you is that they liked an article you wrote. 

Search engines rank web pages in part based on "link popularity" i.e., the number, quality, and relevance of links to a website. You may not care about search engines now, but if you ever do in the future you will be pretty upset at having wasted all these opportunities for link popularity. 

Blunder Number 3: Not including an HTML-formatted link with "anchor text" in your ezine article's author's resource box 

As much as reasonably possible, you want to encourage publishers to publish your author's resource box with the link in HTML, using your chosen anchor text (i.e., the text you click on to follow the link, traditionally displayed in blue and underlined), if it's going to be shown in a web page or HTML newsletter. If the article is being distributed as plain text, you can include a link to an HTML-formatted version on your website. There are three reasons for this:

A link that says "discover widgets" is going to get more clicks than a link that just says "http://www.widgets.com" Your call to action (e.g., "discover widgets") is much more powerful when the reader can read it and act upon it in one split second, since there is not that crucial extra split-second of pause while moving the mouse. In that split-second pause your reader might get second thoughts. With advertising (and the author's resource box is an advertisement), impulse is everything.

Anchor text, like bulleted lists, boldface text, headlines and subheadings, has a higher chance of being read than the rest of the text. People tend to scan computer screens rather than read text word for word. Eyes will be much more likely to slow down from scan mode and actually read anything that stands out from the page, especially hyperlinks. This phenomenon and the psychological power of putting a call to action in the anchor text together mean well-written anchor text might easily double the click-throughs you get on your author's resource box link in HTML newsletters and web pages.

A web page will rank higher for a keyword in search engine results if the anchor text of links to that page has that keyword.

Blunder Number 4: Only including an HTML-formatted link with "anchor text" 

You really want that anchor-text link, but it is foolish only to provide that link. No matter what you do, a substantial number of publishers will reformat your article as plain text, and your link will simply disappear. That's why you need to have both an HTML link with anchor text and a URL written out in this format: http://www.yoururl.com/page 

"But I'm only interested in getting my article on web pages so I can gain link popularity," you say. Well, a large number of plain-text email newsletters will be archived on the website of the newsletter publisher. These newsletter-publisher webmasters won't usually remember at that point to get your HTML version to post online. The standard approach is just to automatically convert the URL to a link using special software. 

Remember: the publisher may be operating dozens of ezines and websites, so this whole step will be partially or completely automated, without anyone stopping to check for an HTML version. If you don't have a URL written out in your article, that link will simply be lost. 

Besides, think of all the traffic you might have gotten from plain-text newsletter readers. Who would say no to free targeted traffic--isn't that why you want to rank high in search engines in the first place?

In fact, with paid online advertising going for more than a dollar a click on average, you really are throwing money away if you make any of these ezine article marketing and advertising blunders.

READ MORE - Marketing Blunders