So, you are thinking about buying a bare bones computer, from one of many good vendors on the Internet. But, you are not sure that it will be a good deal for you. Your suspicions might be correct.  I have purchased bare bones systems for a long time, but I know what I am wanting, and where the “cuts’ have been made to be able to offer great deals. Not everybody, though, will feel that comfortable making that decision.

I found a good article on the subject written by Peter Stewart, and I wanted to share that with my followers in its entirety.  I have also sent a blast out to my followers. The 7 tips were good.

Getting a new computer should be a cool thing, especially a cheap computer. After all that time struggling with you old machine, probably fighting with it to get the latest software to run, your new computer should be a ray of light for your computing future.

Oh, if it were that simple. If things were really that easy or simple when buying a cheap computer, life would be much easier, but just like every other thing, its not that simple.

Barebones computers have become extremely popular, and for good reason. Getting a barebones computer which does not include a monitor and comes with the bear minimum of parts makes them an upgradable, practical and cheap computer.

But not all things are rosy in barebones computer land…

1. Missing parts

Although barebones computers do come with the essential pieces, most people need at least one or two extras for their day to day barebones system. This is simply due to different applications people use them for. Don’t get caught missing that extra part from your barebones system that you then need to get later. You still need to do some homework and research to find out what you really need from your barebones system.

2. Super cheap computer deals

Beware, many corners can be cut to get those sub $200 dollar barebones systems. They can be great, but not always, carefully analyse the components of the package. Also remember that a barebones system couldn’t possibly include a monitor for that price, which adds a lot to the price.

3. Mismatched parts

This could become a problem if building your own computer, but it even happens in pre-assembled barebones computer deals. There is a chance that you get something that doesn’t fit with the barebones system. There are lots of different connections and speed ratings between parts. Make sure the ones you get match up to the other parts and your needs. Although not common, incompatibilities between parts are not unheard of.

4. Outdated components

To get super-cheap deals older parts are sometimes used in cheap computers. Although this can be a great cost-saver and some old parts are fantastic, there is nearly no chance of an upgrade without putting a major amount of money into your barebones computer again, perhaps as much if not probably more than you paid for your great deal.

5. Defective parts

Although this is another one that has gotten better as the competition has gotten stronger, there is a chance of defects in cheaper products. Your motherboard could be faulty, your power supply might give up after a month or two. These may not be intentional problems, but come hand in hand with “cheap computer stuff”.

6.Refurbished computer parts

Refurbished computer parts are a great way to save some money. Not always the biggest saver, but there can be problems with the updates to these computers in much the way as mismatches happen in barebones systems. Often the computer is slightly updated to meet needs, but is really quite an old model, just with upgrades. Can be fine, but the parts they replace might be replaced with something newer but inferior.

7. Claims of great warranty

To try and entice you into feeling safe, offers of long warranties are made. Most of the parts in the computer could have past their warranty dates, so the warranties are purely from the company that put the computer together. They can be hard to contact and take their time to get replacements to you as well as expect you to mail the computer to them so that they can do the repairs.

Barebones computers can be a great way to put together a second computer, build a computer for simple purposes, like writing documents and casual web surfing. Barebones fit perfectly as a second computer. Just keep these things in mind and you won’t get bitten by the bargain bin monster.

About the author:

Get the most honest and useful reviews to make the right choice at our Desktop Computer Hardware Reviews site or get practical computer buying tips at our Computer Buying Guide site

Written by: Peter Stewart  I have left you his links to his website.

We’ll talk again soon,

Raymond C Province

Ray Province

The Godaddy.com people have published their own iPhone application. I have to tell you that I really like it.  It has really opened up some new possibilities for managing my account on Godaddy.com.

I realize that some of you may not be as excited about Godaddy.com as I am. You hear good and bad stories, though, about every Domain Hosting Company. I have just always had a good experience there. Granted, my need for technical service is minimal. I can usually handle my own issues. However, I have needed them at times, and I have always been able to get a live voice from Tech Support that speaks English as well as I. (or almost so!)

The new ap has components that will let you check your email. You can also handle Domain Management, and order new products. You can renew also. In the future, I expect to see total DNS managment as an option.

If you’re a fan of the commercials, there is also a link to that.  A Contact Us section will also allow you to communicate with the Godaddy people. There is also a WHOIS search feature.

It’s not bad for a first edition of the iPhone application. Hang on. I’m sure there is more to come. Want to more more about Godaddy.com services, just click here.

We’ll talk again soon,

Ray Province, Celtic Ozark Solutons

Ray Province

The BlogPress iPhone ap makes blogging on your website a breeze.  I am always looking for iphone aps that help me be more productive, when I can’t be in front of a desktop or laptop computer.  The BlogPress ap has made it possible for me to blog whereever I am.

I have the ap set up to handle all my blogs on Blogger.com  It can do much more, though.  It also handles my blogging on Wordpress and Joomla.  This includes my websites like this one, which are built on a Wordpress theme.  There are setting for MSN Live Spaces, Movable Type, TypePad, Live Journal, and Drupal.  You can also hook in Youtube,  Twitter, and some other sites.

For my wordpress sites, I had to activate the XML-RPC settings in the Settings>Writing section of my admin console.  There is also a setting there to active Atom style protocols.  This allows the iPhone ap to publish to a private website.

In Joomla, you will have to download and install the MetaWeblog plugin for Joomla. It grabbed it from the Joomla extensions site.  You also have to enable web services in the Global Setting section of your admin console in Joomla.

You may also want to grab the free iPhone ap for Dragon dictation. You can then dictate your blog, and paste it into the page you set up in the BlogPress ap.  Pictures can also be added this way. 

The BlogPress iPhone ap makes blogging on your website a breeze. I hope you will give it a try. Then, the world can become your blogging office!

Ray Province

I have been so excited to hear about the new Apple iPad.  The iPad reviews are dismall, though.  It look like the product is not living up to the general expectations of the public.

CNET has been one of the biggest antagonists so far.  From my way of thinking, CNET still wants to put the iPad into the “mini personal computer” arena.  If this is the case, then it is a bit of a disappointment.  At 64G of memory, you can get a better deal on a small Dell style mini computer, with 1G of RAM, and a hardrive twice that big.  Granted, the touch screen won’t be there.

Here is the argument:  it’s too weak to be a good computer. It’s too big to be just a phone. It’s definitely not going to replace the iPod.  So, that leaves us just one basic thought:  is it just designed to be a fancy Kindle?

The size of the iPad may also end up causing sales to dwindle.  If it does not do much more than a good 3GS iPhone, then people may get tired of carrying the bigger version around. We have become a lazy little group.

Blogging is a geat way to start to develop your social media network. It is also a great way to promote your business and services. Let’s take a moment and look at blogs.

By definition, a blog is a type of website used to share information, articles, videos, pictures, opinions on some topic. The sites are usually maintained by an individual or small group, though large corporations are starting to get in the game.
The word derives its meaning from weblog.

My favorite blogs to use are set up on WordPress, Blogger,Bloglines, and Tumblr. Each of these sites will allow you to set a blog, or multiple blogs, for free. You do not even need to write on different subjects. You may carry the same article, or post, on each of the blogs you set up.

My favorite thing to do with a blog is share information on a particular subject of interest. You are reading such a blog entry now. I am fascinated with blogging on social media, and its affects on our current society. So, I share this bit of expertise on these blog sites.

The best blog articles are 500 to 1000 words in length. They will contain keywords in the title, and a couple of times during the article. In this case, I am writing on social media integration. I have used these so called “keywords” in my title, and in the article.

A keyword is a word that someone might use to find something about my business in a informational search on a site like google or yahoo.
So, I use the keywords social,media, and integration as a way for people to find my work on the Internet. In fact, I even own a website named http://ping.fm/YEPC0 or http://ping.fm/36UWc

Hey,

I found another video from my friend Scott Willoughby that I wanted to share with everyone. Hope you enjoy the video.

SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday – Getting Indented Listings from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.

There are two times, at least, in the life of a website that you need to submit your website’s url to the major search engines. When you fail to do so, you leave that task up to the search engine “crawlers,” that scour the Internet ( rather Wraith like), looking for new websites. The good news is there are lots of free website submission tools that you can use.

The first of these times is when you build a brand new website. You need to get word about your website out proactively. It can takes weeks, otherwise, for the search engines to even begin to find your website.

The second time is when you make major changes to your website. This could cause changes to your sitemap, and might even break links attached to your website, or links caught by search engines. A classic example of this is when users of Wordpress themes, like this site, change the default permalink for their website. Search engine friendly url’s have to be built in the custom structure section. Joomla sites started with content have the same issue. If these are not caught from the git-go, you will have a time where your search engine rankings will suffer.

Many so-called free url submission sites are anything but free. They will require you to submit your url, email address, phone number. After a period of time, the companies will want you to try out their services, and will want to “up sell” you to their new and improved submission subscription. In some senses, this is not bad. You may not want to do that work yourself. If you are really wanting to do the work yourself, you need to be careful with these “landing pages.”

Here are some free websites that are directly owned by the search engine companies:

• Google- http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl
• Yahoo Search – http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit
• Open Directory – http://www.dmoz.org/
• Scrub the Web – http://www.scrubtheweb.com/cgi-bin/addurl.cgi
• Cuil – http://www.cuil.com/info/contact_us/feedback/?to=crawl%20me

All five of these sites are quality search engines. They have a Google PR rating of at least 6. They also have an Alexa traffic rank of at east 11707, up to the number one traffic site, Google.com. With a little work, you can find others.

We’ll

One of the biggest battles any new small website business faces is picking keywords that will help to ensure search engine success for the site. The internet is a proverbial “ocean” these days. Without help, you stand a better chance of getting hit by lightening than getting your website found.

One trick that can really help is finding a niche for your keywords. This is how I define niche keywords: they are a subset of a very popular, more generalized keyword phrase. For example, your favorite keyword might be “real estate investing.” Now log in to Google.com, and run a search for this keyword phrase. Good luck taking this one over in a day.

With time, you might be able to even take over these type of generalized keyword phrases, but it will take many days of consistent work. In addition, Google ads tend to dominate these type of searches. This makes fighting for the so-called “organic space” tough.

Niche keywords, though, can really make your website easy to find. A simple addition of something like “real estate investing Springfield Missouri” now makes the search look a whole lot different. My website can still key in on the REI component, while also capturing a section of the market in the area that I work. I have found a niche.

There is also a psychology to this type of niche marketing. There are lots of real estate investment “gurus” in the game. Yet, most people will want to do business, off the bat, with someone local. Niche keywords will give me a way to reach those people. In time, the website can take on a more natural evolution to the national or international level.

If you want to do this quickly, spend a million or so in ads. If that is out of your budget, give niche keywords for your chosen website business a try. It will bring you more search engine success.

Ray Province

Ray Province is a retired minister who currently works as an IT programmer in the healthcare industry. He is also the owner of Celtic Ozark Solutions, an IT company that specialized in website development, SEO, and social media marketing. You can reach him at celticozarksolutions@gmail.com , or @celticozarkian on Twitter.

How does google rank your website? Celtic Ozark Solutions is a new website, with a current rank of PR2. Want to know what PR rating you have with Google? Check out http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php Your PR ranking is kind of a health rating for the SEO and popularity of your website. 0-10 rating. Your goal should be to get your website over a 3.Google PageRank Checker – Check Google page rank of any web pages Source: www.prchecker.info Page Rank Checker is a completely Free tool to check Google PR, page rank of your web site easily and possibly display your Google PageRank on your web pages.

I wanted to add a quick, simple video on how to add good search engine optimization for your video. The goal of the process is to drive business back to your main website. Hope you enjoy it.