1. Wait two to four days after installation.

Granite is porous. That means that it can absorb water or moisture. During installation, some moisture will seep into your granite countertop, and this will give it a “wet” look.

I know you’re excited, but you need to wait two to four days for the moisture to evaporate.

2. Have your granite countertop sealed.

After the moisture has dissipated, have your granite supplier or installer apply a granite sealer to your entire countertop using a paper towel.

3. Wait for 24 hours.

Yes, you’re so excited to enjoy your beautiful Galaxy Black granite countertop, but please give the sealant 24 hours to dry. By being patient, you will protect your countertop from unnecessary stains.

4. Okay, enjoy your lovely granite countertop.

Congratulations! It wasn’t easy to wait an entire day. Now you and your friends and family can admire your shiny and clean granite countertop. At least it will make washing the dishes more fun, as you stand there and stare at the smooth surface surrounding your professionally installed kitchen sink.

You’ll probably be more familiar with the other terms that describe cyberservices: webhosting, web programmin, SEO, virtual assistance, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, article marketing, press release marketing, viral video marketing, article directory submissions…

In other words, cyberservices refer to activities performed online, via the web, or even through mobile cell phones.

Among the skills needed by such virtual assistants are the following: writing skills, communication skills, ability to follow directions, programming savvy, a bit of PHP knowledge, and copywriting, to name a few.

In some cases, and if your budget permits, you may have to gain experience in PPC marketing.

At the basic level, though, you can get by with 5th Grade English. Yes, you will need to improve your English skills. If you’re way past college, you can still get back into the groove by partnering with high school and university students. Get a tutor and practice.

As far as technical skills go, nothing beats actual hands-on experience. Go ahead and install a WordPress blog. The web is abound with numerous tutorials anyway.

All you need is the patience and perseverance to push forward and learn all that you can. You must also resist the temptation to stay locked in “learning” mode, so you can advance into “action” mode.

It also helps if you blog regularly. It doesn’t have to be every single day. Regularly can mean something like twice a month, or once a week. It helps keep you on your toes, and exercises that gray muscle between your ears. As an added bonus, it helps you learn how to write articles much faster.

Cyberservices and real estate mesh quite well together. If you’re observant, you probably have noticed how more people are using the web when searching for condos or house and lot packages. With a powerful combination of SEO, blogging, copywriting, and email marketing, you can attract more leads and inquiries that can lead to tripping schedules and perhaps even the payment of the Reservation Fee.

If you’re thinking about taking a course in Nursing, please re-think your options.

It’s time you go into Philippine cyberservices. Quite simply, it works!

It’s time to try outsourcing to the Philippines. Here’s how that business model works…

There are people with design, writing, technical, and social media promotion and SEO skills who live outside Metro Manila, Philippines. In most cases, these people will be happy to do outsourced internet marketing work for around $400 a month.

(NOTE: If these VAs will start from scratch and work on their own, their blogs will probably earn only $100 to $200 a month. That’s why you will need to reward them adequately if you want them to work for you.)

Finding such people (and motivating them) isn’t that easy, though. That’s why some of the talented VA aggregators will charge a management fee of around $150 per VA.

In other words, your total cost per VA will be around $550 per month.

Assuming your network of blogs or websites is making at least $2,650 monthly, you will need a team of 3 VAs. That will net you $1,000 a month ($2,650 – $1,650), while you go off and try other things.

Say goodbye to burnout, without saying farewell to your existing network of sites.

What will you do now with your new-found time? You can try another industry, start another business (or franchise), get a regular job, simply relax and travel, spend more time with the family, or even write a series of ebooks for the growing ebook market (remember the Kindle and iPad).

Or you can do what you did with your existing network, and go build yet another network from scratch. Over time, you can once again form a team of 3 VAs, and net around $1,000 each month once you get your new network to the P2,500+ a month level.

Minus the headache and sleepless nights, and certainly less of the physical strain of doing your home business in front of the computer.

In addition, you will truly become entrepreneurial because you will be harnessing the efforts of other people (and make money in the process). This will free you from the drudgery of online work, and will allow you to spend more time thinking of new ideas to try out.

You’ll be able to give a livelihood to more people, help them send their children to better schools, and thus positively contribute to the lives of hundreds or even thousands of people whose lives will be touched by this growing group of better-educated young adults.

At the same time, you will still have your passive income of around $1,000 monthly.

Isn’t it time you outsource your internet marketing requirements to the Philippines?

First, think of an eye-catching title. It’s usually something that immediately addresses a need, or helps people solve a problem. For example, the phrase “how to” is a popular way of attracting readers to your article.

Next, introduce your article or topic by showing what people need to achieve their goal, and how you are going to help them get what they want.

In this blog post, for example, people want to make money and one way of doing that online is by writing. The problem is, it usually takes too long to write. So this blog post teaches you how to write quickly.

After the introduction, teach others a few basic steps. Three to five items will be enough, because you don’t want to overwhelm people with encyclopedic information.

And lastly, close your article with a quick summary of what you have just taught them. This way, people who skim articles quickly can still get a quick gist of what you were trying to say.

The good thing about this is that people will appreciate what you’ve done for them, and this will help lay the foundation for future business collaboration or even a potential joint venture agreement.

And there you have it:

• Eye-Catching Title
• Introduction and Reason
• Basic Steps, and
• Closing

Now you don’t have any excuse. Go and start writing your articles in 7 minutes (or less), and build your online business faster and more effectively!

Virtual assistants can help you answer email, provide customer support, set-up WordPress blogs, provide copywriting services, install PHP scripts, assist in webdesigning matters, initiate and complete SEO campaigns, formulate and execute email marketing strategies, create screencast online video tutorials, produce podcasts, or even write articles for you.

Usually, you will need around 2 to 3 VAs to help you cover the main aspects of content and design, technical program and script installation and site maintenance, and SEO or blog promotion.

In terms of content, please take care of your writers. It isn’t easy finding people who will produce anywhere from 250 to 400 word articles for you on a consistent basis.

With 3 Filipino virtual assistants, budget around US$1,500 a month (total for all 3). Clearly, your business must be at least at the $2,000 a month level before you consider outsourcing your internet marketing requirements.

In order to appreciate this, consider the tasks that have to be performed:

• Set-up blogs
• Write content for those blogs
• Publish content in external sites such as Squidoo, Hubpages, Blogger… to name a few
• Optimize your sites for both visitors and search engines
• Produce multimedia content
• Promote your content via article marketing, social bookmarking, video marketing, and even podcast submissions
• Set-up your email marketing campaigns
• Produce ebooks and other downloadable software to entice people to subscribe to your mailing list
• Write the content used for your email follow-up messages
• Set-up membership sites
• Program the Paypal payment buttons (single and recurring payments)
• Write the content or produce the videos which will be uploaded to your membership sites
• Repeat the cycle for other sites you wish to launch in other niches

Bulk of the work will be handled by the Content Producers and the Site Promoters. Between those two groups, 20% of the effort will be covered by the writers, while 80% will be done by the promoters.

With this business model, you can earn money from the web via advertising revenue, affiliate marketing commissions, or even direct sales. In addition, you can use your network of blogs to generate leads which will help you close offline sales.

So if you prefer to focus on envisioning the future markets you will enter, and outsource the “technical” aspects of content production, programming, and promotion to other people, then this is the way to go.

Instead of thinking of the internet as location or destination, entrepreneurs should consider looking at it as a channel. In that case, the question now becomes:

“How do I grow my business through the internet?”

Now before you go off and spout “Advertise Online” (which is all right, actually), you will need to consider who exactly you are serving on the web.

Are you serving yourself with a flood of “buy me!” messages? Or are you serving your potential customers?

When you change your focus and think of ways to serve your customers, that will help you attract potential business partners. And the best way to serve people online is by providing information that will help solve their problems.

Their problems might now be directly related to your own company’s products or services, but if you help them first, and if your product is somehow related, then a tastefully placed ad for your product just might capture their interest.

And that is the secret of online marketing success: Serve others first.

First, no man is an island.

Remember how Manny Villar spent a lot of advertising? He was everywhere: on television, in Google, and even in Facebook Ads. He was quite ubiquitous even on Twitter and YouTube.

It had even come to the point where some people were complaining about his jingle.

But look at the rankings. See even Joseph Erap Estrada got millions of votes more than Manny Villar. Is this due to the fact that a lot of Filipinos don’t pay attention to the internet?

What about all those TV commercials?

The point is this: No man is an island.

You can’t win just on the basis of grabbing lots of airtime or flooding people with advertisements. You need to work with others.

It’s as simple as that. On the internet, do not expect to make truckloads of money online just by blogging and advertising online. You still need to reach out and network with other people.

Go ahead and collaborate with other bloggers and other internet marketers. Don’t insist on doing everything on your own. Don’t try to grab the glory and keep all credit to yourself.

The next time you’re wondering why you haven’t succeeded in internet marketing, remember the Philippine presidential elections of May 2010 and ask yourself if you’re trying to be a solitary island, or if you are a team player.

Online email marketing involves creating a mailing list that attracts people to subscribe and receive regular email updates or announcements from the list owner.

Why will people join the list in the first place?

Some internet marketers will offer a free, downloadable report in the form of a PDF file, or perhaps even an audio MP3 file or an instructional video.

It is this thirst for information that motivates people to subscribe and join the list.

Once they’re on the list, it becomes the responsibility of the marketer to send regular email messages that are of high value to the recipient, because this will help ensure that they will remain subscribed to the list.

One strategy is to give a marketing message for every 5 non-marketing or goodwill messages. With this approach, your list subscribers will not feel that they are simply being pitched left and right.

Others might even stretch that to one pitch for every 10 non-pitch emails, but based on experience 5 seems to be the magic number.

Please don’t take this as gospel truth, however, because that magic number 5 is based on experiments conducted with other websites. The results might be different from your own, because your visitors may very well be quite different from those who visit the other sites.

In short, be prepared to test different assumptions. If you know that testing is important when it comes to website design, it becomes even more critical when doing online email marketing because the impact can be quite substantial.

For example, your website might get 1000 visitors a day, with each visitor looking at a different page in your site.

But your mailing list might have 10,000 subscribers, with around 90% of them looking at that same email message. A change in layout here, or a twist in the headline can affect how many people will respond to your message.

An improvement of 1% will mean 100 more people will buy your product, for example, and if you’re product is worth $47 then that’s an ADDITIONAL $4,700 just because you worded your headline differently.

Do you now see the power of email marketing and why testing is important?

What are you waiting for? Go out and include listbuilding as part of your internet marketing package today. Just remember to provide value, and your subscribers will reward you for your help in the years to come.

Here are some virtual assistant of VA skills people are interested in…

Employers will mostly expect Filipino VAs to know how to use Microsoft Office (MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint). Also, the ability to surf the internet is a very basic requirement.

When it comes to English communication skills, writing will be more important than speaking skills, unless the VA is needed to produce videos with voiceovers, or the employer needs to regularly communicate verbally via Skype or VoIP.

In the area of Marketing, VAs who are adept in the following will have an edge:

• Advertising
• Blogging
• Branding
• Copywriting
• Email Marketing
• Google AdSense
• Google AdWords
• Google Webmaster
• Online Research
• Recording Audio
• SEO / search engine optimization
• SEM / search engine marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Video Marketing

On the technical side, here are the skills employers are looking for:

Audio / Podcasting
Autoresponder Set-up
Backing up of MySQL Databases
Drupal
Ebook Production
FTP
Graphics Design
Google Analytics
HTML
PHP
WordPress (installation, plugins)
Membership Site Scripts
Video Editing

Among the desired General and Administrative skills are:

Email and Customer Support
Data Entry
Time Management

In the case of SEO services, Filipino VAs desire anywhere from P15,000 to P40,000 per month. For writing services, Filipino VAs quote anywhere between P5,000 to P20,000 monthly (or $4 per 400-word article).

Given the current online business environment, internet marketers are expanding their businesses by outsourcing online business tasks to virtual assistants in the Philippines.

One way of helping this growing business is by providing online training to Filipinos interested in a home-based business, so that they can enlarge their skill set and become more attractive to overseas employers in the process.

Here’s an example of a growing community of virtual workers in the Philippines: OnlineJobsPH at Facebook

The Lobby Easter Sunday Jazz Brunch Buffet

It’s highly affordable at only P2,600 (price is subject to 10% service charge and prevailing government taxes) inclusive of free-flowing Champagne for adults. Without the champagne, it’s only P1,900 (plus taxes) for adults and P1,000 for children under the age of 12 (inclusive of complimentary entrance to the Jungle Safari Easter Egghunt at the Rigodon Ballroom).

Easter Family Package

This is valid from March 28, 2010 to April 12, 2010. Rates start from P5,500 (prices subject to 10% service charge and prevailing government taxes), which is inclusive of a family breakfast buffet in Escolta and a complimentary entrance to the Jungle Safari Easter Egg hunt at the Rigodon Ballroom for two children under the age of 12.

For inquiries and table reservations, please call:

The Peninsula Manila
Tel +63.2 887 2888
Extension 6694 (Restaurant Reservations), or
Ext. 6630 (Room Reservations), or simply visit http://www.peninsula.com

Enjoy your Easter Sunday!

Yes, live and learn. Here are some lessons I learned which I hope will help you have a more enjoyable time building your house…

1. Your friend is not your contractor or contratista. Your contractor is not your friend. Dispel all those silly notions of “he will take care of me because he is my friend.” The truth is, that contractor is a business person.

2. Don’t let your contractor prepare the plans for you. Hire an independent third-party. Budget around P40k for architectural plans.

3. A third-party will be responsible for computing your Bill of Materials. Do not show that cost estimate to your contractor.

4. Don’t fall for the: “We’ll build it for you for only P10,000 per square meter!” This is misleading, because different parts of the house will have different costings per square meter.

5. Building a two-storey house? Budget around P18,000 to P20,000 per square meter. Set aside 15% of the total cost for items you may have missed.

Will add tips in future, so that future homeowners may benefit and enjoy a stress-free build your dream house project.

If your contractor was able to secure the building permit even though the plans are incomplete, then you can assume that some “magic” was done.

Anyway, check out this list of required documents and plans…

The following list is based on bryant77’s June 6, 2009 post in PEx:

Application for Bldg Permit. (Residential Only)
Architectural Plans:
-Vicinity map/Location Plan
-Site Development Plan
-Perspective
-Floor Plans
-Elevations (at least 4)
-Sections (at least two)
-reflected Ceiling plan
-Architectural details: e.g. stair, fire escape, cabinets, partitions, etc.
-Schedule of doors & windows
-Schedule of finishes
-details of major architectural elements

Civil/Structural Plans
-Foundation Plan and details
-Floor/Roof framing plan and details
-details and schedules of structural work

Electrical Plans
-Location & site plans
-legend & symbols
-Gen. notes
-Electrical Layout
-Schedule of loads
-single line diagram

Plumbing/Sanitary Plans
-Location & site plan
-Plumbing plans, layouts and details
-legend & general notes
-Isometric of the system
-technical specs

I’ll go speak with my contractor and ask him about the missing roof framing plans.

Another good site (in Tagalog) that will give you tips when hiring contractors to build your house is http://construction711.blogspot.com

This basically introduces students to “new media” and gives them the opportunity to use various tools. For example, instead of just submitting the usual typewritten writing project, students get to use online resources, wikis, and even vlogs (or video blogs).

Among the target projects are:

• Xavier Wiki (think Wikipedia)
• Personal Learning Website (portfolio of students’ works)
• Vlog (video blog posted in YouTube)

And here are the winners:

Jeffrey Sultan (Best Personal Learning Website)
Vincent Soliven (Best Research Wiki)
Jacob Lim (Best Vlog) [Topic: How Search Engines Work]
Thomas Co (Special Award: Most Creative Vlog) [Virtual Worlds and Gaming]

The teachers involved in this project are:

Rina Golez (Grade School English Department Head)
Jessica Demegillo (Computer teacher)
Father Art Borja, SJ
Mr. Martin Gomez
Karol Yee
Fr. Johnny Go, SJ (School Director)

It’s good to see students not only acquiring knowledge, but also creating it. Let’s see what new projects will be launched in the future.

What this means is you’ll see “65% green” and even enjoy the water features, child-friendly and wellness amenities, plus the Tropical Garden which can hold 300 guests for your special events and occasions.

For more information:

Please call +63.25100
Or email info@alveosales.com.ph
Or visit http://www.twoserendra.com.ph

Celebrate Life’s Passions at The Meranti

The developer is Alveo Land, and it upholds its commitment to enriching your lifestyle and giving you more ways to enjoy the various facets of life. For example, The Meranti at Two Serendra provides you with “multi-experiential” amenities.

Where Everything Is Within Reach

You have easy access to various locations, because you are right at the heart of the Bonifacio Global City! For example, you’re just a short walk away from St. Luke’s Medical Center (a top medical institution in the Philippines), a quick drive from the International School Manila, the Mind Museum (the country’s much awaited science museum), various shops, supermarkets, and restaurants.

Right outside your front door, you’ll have easy access to the various popular shops at Serendra and Bonifacio High Street. Dining and shopping destinations galore!

And just a few minutes away are the Makati and Ortigas Central Business Districts.

Where You Live Life to the Fullest

The Meranti at Two Serendra allows you to live out your passion. Whether you enjoy lush gardens, or improving your health at The Meranti’s Fitness Club, or if you prefer to bond with your family in the Discovery Hall, there’s a wonderful spot just for you.

Plus, you’ll enjoy facilities such as WiFi, library and play areas for children, and even relaxing talk and lounge areas.

Want to unwind at the end of the day with your business partners? Check out the Enterprise Lounge. And if you feel like wowing your friends and family with your latest recipes, The Culinary Studio allows you to share your creative best as it comes fully equipped with a high-grade kitchen and grill.

Passion + Social Interaction = The Meranti at Two Serendra

The i25 package gives you 3 hours of internet access for only P25. Please note that the 3 hours is good for one day, so please avoid starting later than 9pm.

The i50 package gives you 1 day of unlimited internet access for only P50. Imagine that… for only P25 more, you get 21 hours more!

Sun Broadband Wireless Prepaid and Regular Prepaid subscribers may convert the regular load by texting “i25″ or “i50″ to 247.

For more information, please visit http://www.suncellular.com.ph