I very recently posted an auction for my old Dell Inspiron 6000 (take a look if you like). She’s obviously old and has seen better days, but hopefully somebody will find it useful as a parts laptop.

The challenge here was to make an older laptop look half-way decent in an eBay listing photo. How to do it? Here’s how:

Yes, I know the laptop is old and you can clearly see the paint rubbed off the palm rest from years of use (this is common to the older Inspiron series), but the blue backdrop makes the overall presentation look much more appealing.

Do I have some ritzy photo studio to make a product photo look good?

Hardly:

It’s a blue piece of fabric purchased from Wal-Mart and tacked up on the wall. I smoothed out the fabric in the area where the laptop is.

The camera I used? A cheap point-and-shoot. Nothing fancy.

Here’s some tips on using a proper backdrop and other things you can do to make what you sell more attractive in a photo:

1. Blue, black or white backdrops only

Even the cheapest of digital cameras "like" the color blue. Black is good also, but sometimes may not serve well if what you’re showing is also black. White works well as long as it’s actual fabric and not a towel from the bathroom (whenever I see that I laugh because it’s so obvious).

Red is bad. Psychologically this says, "WARNING!" Not good when you’re trying to sell something.

Green is bad because it tends to "fuzz" when you take the shot. It doesn’t matter how good your digital camera is because on upload to eBay or like service your photo will be downsized and compressed, resulting in a seriously crappy look (you will actually see the JPEG artifacts in some instances.. very bad.)

Patterns are also bad, because the first thing potential buyers will pay attention to is the pattern and not the product.

2. Angle it

For laptops or anything with a screen on it, shooting on an angle is always better. It literally eliminates the big white spot a camera flash creates due to reflection.

A very common mistake is that people will shoot products with screens on them from dead center. This makes the product look horrible. If you angle it, it gets rid of the aforementioned flash and you can actually show the screen turned on and in use.

You will notice that for any – and I mean any – dead-center shots of something with a screen in use, the screen will always look dim even at the brightest setting. But when you angle it, it looks proper.

3. Show what it comes with

You’ll notice in my photo that the XP Pro operating system recovery disc and the power brick is clearly seen. This lets any potential buyer know that yes, it comes with those items included. Both items are a big deal to anybody who purchases a laptop new or used.

Per my photo above, showing the power brick not plugged in while the laptop is turned on proves the battery still works.

4. Show it turned on

Many people also make the mistake of showing an electronic device not turned on in a listing. The immediate thought (at least for me) when I see that is, "Oh. I guess it doesn’t work." This is obviously not the impression you want to give. You want to show that yes, whatever you’re selling does work. So show it.

5. Don’t try to hide the flaws

In my example, the rubbed-off paint on the palm rest is a huge eyesore. But there was nothing I could do about that, so I left it as-is and in my description noted it. She’s an older laptop, anybody that looks at it will also know it’s older, and she’s nowhere near mint condition. Any attempt by me trying to convince a potential buyer otherwise would be a fool’s errand. Being honest with your product photos goes a long way with buyers because it establishes confidence, i.e. the buyer knows up front what he or she is getting with no guesswork.

Did you also know that your thumbnail will also look much better shooting product photos like this?

The blue really separates this from the other listings you would see for like products, and is done so in a way that’s not garish/tacky.

Will any of my tips above guarantee the sale of anything? No, because nothing is guaranteed no matter how good you make it look. But the likelihood of people actually looking at what you post does increase, and this may give you a better chance of selling whatever it is you have.

What photo methods do you use (if any) for the stuff you sell online?

Are there any "tricks" you use that have proven to be successful? Let us know in the comments.

Whether you author a freebie WordPress-hosted blog at WordPress.com or self-host it on your own site via a downloaded version from WordPress.org, both operate the same way. Here are 5 tips and tricks when using WP that make it more fun (and productive) to use.

1. Use IE when authoring

WHAT?! Yes, the animations on the menus in WP 2.7 are smoother in IE than Firefox. Sad but true.

Example: Login to your WP admin and expand any one of the menus from the left, such as Tools. Watch how smooth the animation is compared to Firefox where menus and other functions are “jerky”.

This is not to say Firefox can’t author with WordPress. Far from it. But the animations with the admin panel are smoother on IE.

If you use IE for just WP authoring and nothing else, your neighbors will not storm your house with torches and pitchforks, not to worry.

2. Use full-screen mode when editing

When using full-screen mode you can put your browser in windowed mode (meaning not maximized) and your browser truly looks like a word processing app when editing a blog post.

Full screen mode can be activated by a keyboard shortcut (Alt+SHIFT+G) or by the small “screen” icon directly next to the spell-check “ABC” icon.

Example of the difference:

Above: Standard interface. This can get cluttered quickly.

Above: What happens when I press Alt+SHIFT+G. I am still in WordPress but in full-screen edit mode looks and feels a whole lot better when authoring.

To get out of full-screen mode, click the full-screen icon again or press Alt+SHIFT+G again.

Note: This is not the same as using full-screen mode in your browser (which is F11).

3. Know your keyboard shortcuts

You know Alt+SHIFT+G is full-screen mode from the previous tip. Here are the rest:

• Bold: Highlight text, then Ctrl+B or Alt+SHIFT+B
• Italic: Highlight text, then Ctrl+I or Alt+SHIFT+I
• Strikethrough/Strikeout: Highlight text, then Alt+SHIFT+D
• Unordered (i.e. bulleted) list: Alt+SHIFT+U
• Ordered (ex: 1, 2, 3) list: Alt+SHIFT+O (as in letter O, not zero)
• Blockquote: Alt+SHIFT+Q
• Align text to the left: Alt+SHIFT+L
• Align text to the center: Alt+SHIFT+C
• Align text to the right: Alt+SHIFT+R
• Align text “full”: Alt+SHIFT+J
• Hyperlink text: Highlight text, then Alt+SHIFT+A
• Remove hyperlink: Highlight text, then Alt+SHIFT+S
• Insert a “more” tag: Alt+SHIFT+T
• Toggle a spellcheck: Alt+SHIFT+N
• Show or hide “Kitchen Sink” (extra functions): Alt+SHIFT+Z
• Undo: Ctrl+Z
• Redo: Ctrl+Y
• Help: Alt+SHIFT+H

4. Use the draft feature, use it often.

When writing anything the draft feature will save anything you were working on directly to the web server.

While it’s true that WP will auto-save drafts while editing in the interface, it’s suggested that you get in the habit of physically click that “Save Draft” button, because there many be times when what was auto-saved as a revision doesn’t include the new stuff you wrote.

5. Speed up the admin interface by using screen options

When you login to WP admin, a feature that is really easy to miss is “Screen Options” at top right. It’s a gray button directly next to “Help”.

When clicked a bunch of checkboxes appear. If you uncheck them all you can “blank out” your admin panel for greater speed, like this:

There is nothing broken with the above screen shot. This is what happens when you uncheck everything.

My suggestion for those that use WP is to have “Right Now” and “Recent Drafts” checked and nothing else, mainly because you don’t need anything else. But of course that’s up to you.

Also bear in mind you can drag and drop these items and sort them however you like.

Do you use WordPress?

What tips would you recommend?

Right now a lot of people are tightening belts concerning money and one way to save cash is by using a pre-paid cell phone instead of post-paid. Here are some tips to maximize minutes and minimize hassle.

1. Check voicemail from another number

On many pre-paid phones it chews up minutes checking your voicemail. Solution: Check it from another line. Call your cell phone number, wait for the greeting, press star (*), enter your voicemail password then press pound (#). You’ll be able to log right in and take all the time you want without using any minutes at all. And you can keep your phone free for use while checking voicemail.

2. Do not register the phone with the provider’s web site

Pre-paid phone companies strongly urge you to register the phone with their web site for one reason – to spam you. Don’t fall for the convenience of buying minutes online if you can. Buy your minutes with cards from local retailers instead.

And no, you don’t save any cash buying online compared to retail because you still have to pay the tax no matter what method you use, so you might as well buy the card(s) in the store.

3. Avoid using text alerts from other providers

You lose either time or "text allowance" each time you receive a text message alert. Don’t bother with these.

4. Do not "tie in" your phone with your instant messenger.

Many instant messenger services allow you to "tie in" or "link" your IM account with your cell phone. For those with unlimited messaging this may be fine, but for pre-paid, not so much. Sure, it may be convenient but it will chew up time/allowance for text messages fast.

5. Buy an identical phone just for the battery.

Your pre-paid phone was most likely inexpensive. If it was a Motorola W175g for example, the phone probably cost you only ten dollars.

Buy a second phone just for the battery. When you get it, don’t bother activating it. Just plug it in to the wall and keep it on charge for a fresh battery. When the battery in your primary phone runs out, swap out the batteries and ta-da, extra battery when you need it.

STRANGE BUT TRUE: If you were to buy a battery outright for that same 10-dollar phone, it can cost up to 30 dollars. Why bother when the entire phone is 10 and you get the same battery with an extra "charger" (the other phone)?

Laptops traditionally command a high price tag than desktops and their resale value is undisputed.

You may have entertained the idea of buying a used laptop. Personally I recommend against doing this as new ones are easily under $500 these days. However, if you’re insistent on going used, here are a few tips. Continued

Keeping on the ‘cloak and dagger’ subject like the self destructing message tip I wrote about not too long ago, I came across this article which explains how you can ‘hide’ data inside of another file using file streams.

In the walk through, the author uses a text file as an example of how you can embed ‘invisible’ text within the file. While the text is not actually embedded, rather placed in an alternate file stream, for all intents and purposes it is not immediately visible to the end user… you have to know the stream is there it access it.

While I really cannot see any practical use for this either since if you were to send the file which has the hidden text in it, the alternate streams would not be transferred. Nevertheless, this is a pretty neat trick to hide stuff if you share a computer with others.

Everyone’s heard tips on how to manage e-mail, deal with spam and so on – so here are a few other bits of info to help make your e-mail more manageable.

Forwarded e-mail sometimes has a tendency to bypass spam filters

You’ve been a good e-mail user but for whatever reason there are still spams that get thru to your inbox, even though you’ve flagged them a ba-zillion times and they still seem to get thru.

The answer could be you may have forwarded mails that are bypassing the spam filter.

In this instance I’m not referring to e-mail that other people send to you but rather the e-mail that you are downloading in from other e-mail accounts you have.

For example, in Gmail there is the option to bring in mail from other accounts via POP. Other mail services such as Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail also have this feature available. The mail that comes in from these accounts is usually deemed as "trusted" because after all, you did want it there.

If you are currently bringing in other e-mail from other accounts via POP, not doing so may decrease the likelihood of spam bypassing the filter and getting to your inbox.

If you send out mail to over 25 recipients at a time, many mail servers will flag that as spam

The general rule of thumb when it comes to mass mail-outs is that if you’re sending a mail to over 25 different addresses, there is a strong chance several of those you sent the mail to will have it flagged as spam by their mail server.

Some mail providers rely on stronger spam filters (like Gmail and Hotmail) while others operate "by the numbers" to decrease the spam flow. Many ISPs for example will do this. Some have a recipient mail-out limit as low as 20.

The solution to this is either to send out the same mail a few times with the recipient list "broken up" not to exceed 25 at a time, or alternatively use a separate mailing list service.

There are free options for mailing list services such as Yahoo! Groups, MSN Groups and Google Groups. If your recipient list is over 25, I strongly recommend at least checking those offerings to see if they can work for you. Additionally you can also use social media means of lists such as MySpace and Facebook (posting bulletins is essentially the same as mass e-mailing since everyone in the group will get the message).

Sending mail where the recipients are undisclosed

Although this is a simple tip, many people are unaware of how to do this.

When sending an e-mail to multiple recipients, most people usually just put everyone’s e-mail address into the To field. The problem with this is that everyone who receives that mail can see everyone on the list.

Using the cc (carbon copy) field doesn’t help because everyone can still see everyone else’s address.

The way to send a mail to multiple recipients where your address is the only one visible is to do it like this:

1. In To, put your e-mail address.
2. In cc, leave blank.
3. In bcc (blind carbon copy), this is where you put all the other recipients.

If you bcc everybody on the mail you send out and have your address as the only one in the To field, nobody will see the list of addresses. Instead they’ll only see yours because you’re in the To field.

Why do you have to put an e-mail address in the To field? Because it’s required, else the mail won’t send. There must be at least one address there, hence the reason you put in yours.

In Gmail, bcc is done by clicking Add Bcc just below the To field.

In Hotmail, bcc is done by clicking Show Cc & Bcc at the far top right when composing a message. When clicked, the Cc… and Bcc… fields will become visible.

In Yahoo! Mail, bcc is done by clicking Show BCC at the far top right of the To field when composing a message. When clicked, the Bcc: will become visible.

A shot which is very easy to accomplish by using a simple focus “trick” is focusing, moving slightly, then taking the shot.

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A domain in relation to the internet is [Domain Name].[TLD], such as PCMECH.COM. The domain name itself is PCMECH. The TLD, a.k.a. Top Level Domain is the dot com. Or moreover, just com.

Generally speaking you can have up to 60 characters in a domain name before the TLD, so if you wanted..

Hi-There-This-Is-My-Domain-Name-and-I-Really-Like-It.com

..you could get it.

And by the way, the above is a 52-character domain name because the dashes do count as characters.

5 quick tips on domain names

1. Watch where you search.

Have you ever searched for a domain name to purchase and it’s snapped up FIVE SECONDS before you buy it? It’s probably because where you were searching was broadcasted out somewhere, a bot picked it up and auto-registered the domain name.

You can avoid this very annoying situation by using a domain search site that does not broadcast the search results, such as DomainTools.com.

2. Don’t use dashes.

If your domain name contains dashes it’s most likely true that you’ll have to deal with people mistyping your domain all the time. Try to avoid this.

3. If stuck for ideas, use your business name + location.

If your business name is taken as a dot-com (and it most likely is), just add your business’ location. So instead of ExampleBusiness.com it could be ExampleBusinessFlorida.com or ExampleBusinessUSA.com or ExampleBusinessUK.com and so on. You get the idea.

4. Stick with dot-com.

The internet revolves around dot-com. If you have dot-net, dot-org or dot-whatever it will not be as easy to remember.

5. When you get your domain name, register every single type of free service possible for easiest communication.

Register with AIM, Yahoo, MSN/Live, Skype, eBay, Google, MySpace, FaceBook and anything else you can think of with your newly registered name. By doing this you are branding yourself in a good way.

Granted, there is a distinct possibility you won’t be able to get them all, but try your best. Even if you never use them, register with the services regardless. You may encounter a customer, friend or what-have-you that wants to communicate in a specific way, and guess what – you’re covered.