Welcome to the Brokers Blog. Our 12 Brokers work all over Wales and here you can find out what they've been up to, any useful links they have found, tips and ideas. Check out the blog in Welsh too.

Much as I love www.youtube.com for its collection of entertaining and educational videos and can spend hours picking out music videos you´d think nobody in the world would ever remember, I have a feeling it will be superceded by www.Revver.com as each video you publish will earn you money.

The downside is they are strict about copyright, so no point in dubbing your favourite track over your dog´s amusing antics, they won´t publish it.

As long as the material is original, less than 10 minutes and smaller than 100 MB they will search for affiliate schemes and put adverts with your video, you earn money whenever someone clicks on the links.

Don´t have a Video Camera? No problem, try collecting your favourite snaps and using the free Microsoft PhotoStory to compile that into a video. (Easier than you might imagine)

Probably the easiest quickest website authoring package I have ever seen is FREE with PC Advisor Feb 2008 issue.

 (Get it at Tesco´s to get an exclusive extra free CD)
Net Objects Fusion gets five stars from me. *****

N.O.F. has to be the simplest way to create websites. I have been using it for years, from version 1, and always recommend it to people of all levels.

There are tutorials online, and I think you will be pleasantly surprised how easy it is. Even hardened HTML coders have been astonished at the power and simplicity of the package. Beginners can pick it up in minutes.

It comes with free templates and a wizard to get you started, but what I really like is you can build your pages like a flowchart, so it is obvious what the structure of the site looks like. Next, add Text, Pictures or links and publish direct to your server.

You can add an entire photo gallery in a few clicks, something that used to take hours by hand. There are features like Video and Flash that are simple to add, and you can even generate your own online e-commerce store quite readily.

Also on the DVD are;
Bullguard anti-virus/spyware (3 month licence)
Serif Draw plus (handy)
Backup4all
Magix Xtreme Foto Designer
Guitar Academy
and Open Office 2.3 (the big free challenger to Microsoft´s Office)

Everyclick.com is a search engine which can be used in the same way as any other but with the added bonus of donating money to charity everytime you use it - you may have seen the big mouse at events in your area. I´ve just set mine up and aim to use it everytime I search on the internet as there surely isn´t a better way to donate especially if you´re a high user of search engines. Check out Everyclick and lets raise loads of money for our local or national charities.

Hundreds of hours of free Television programmes can be downloaded from 4oD (Channel 4 ´on Demand) from their website www.channel4.com/4od. All you need to do is to download the free player and browse for free programmes.

Skype have teamed up with the network 3 to provide free calls between users for more than 2 hours per day plus free SMS messages.

The new pay-as-you-go and contract phones were launched this month, aimed at teenagers and frequent phone users.

The 3 deal will see users entitled to 4000 free minutes of use per month.

This is a big move forwards for Skype, whose services have previously been limited to PCs under the stairs in house.

The changes mean registered Skype users can phone each other from PCs to mobiles, between new Skype enabled mobiles

Full details at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/nov/10/moneysupplement.internetphonesbroadband1

 

This week we are training the brokers in blogging and how to use a CMS (content management system) so we can all pass on information, things we´ve learnt and links which may help you along. Check back regularly to see what we have to say.

We celebrated launching the website on Friday night.

This exciting project is about to kick off with the delivery of their equipment completed tonight we will discuss the training the partnership will receive and plan the training with the relevant training. The group is also gearing up to produce a Glyncorrwg calendar between the 3 groups which is really excited and will bring the skills of the groups together!

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