IRS Standard Mileage Rates for 2010
January 8, 2010
The IRS has published their new standard mileage rates for 2010. They have dropped with the exception of the charitable mileage rate, which stayed the same.
Business Mileage Rate * – $0.50/mile
Relocation Mileage Rate – $0.165/mile
Medical Mileage Rate – $0.165/mile
Charitable Mileage Rate – $0.14/mile
I was a bit disappointed to see the rate drop, but it’s to be expected. Happy Driving!
* Can be used only if taxpayer owns/leases a passenger auto, van, pickup, or panel truck not for hire (e.g, as a taxi) that was not depreciated under ACRS, MACRS or Sec. 179 in earlier years.
How to Underline Blank Spaces in a Microsoft Word Document
September 30, 2009
I finally found out how to underline blank spaces in Microsoft Word 2007. It’s been driving me nuts for months and the support site just wasn’t helpful. I did this all the time with my 2003 version. Last resort (which should have been my first stop) was to Google my question and quickly went right to the answer on the Microsoft site. Here’s the secret no one wants you to know 
You can underline blank spaces by pressing SHIFT + HYPHEN (-).
That’s it! Earth shattering, I know. I do understand there are other ways, even considered better by Microsoft, but when all I want to do is a few quick, fast space underlines … voila! I was so relieved to find this today.
Update Your WordPress Blogsite Permalinks and You Will Be Found
September 29, 2009
Lately, I’ve noticed quite a few established blogsites still using the standard WordPress permalink structure. By naming your permalinks well, you may find some of your posts successfully listed at number 1 in the search engines (Google loves blogs). What is a permalink, you ask? A permalink, aka permanent link, is a URL that points to a specific blog post. This looks like jibberish by default: http://example.com/?p=123. The ‘&p=123′ text is called the post slug (isn’t that an awful way to refer to it). The post slug will appear in your URL in place of the full title of your post. By incorporating keywords and shortening your post title, you will absolutely be found and can attract new visitors to your site.
From the Wordpress dashboard, select Settings, then Permalinks. From the WordPress Common Settings, choose something like Month and Name or create your own. Personally, I customize the settings and use the year and the post name, like http://www.example.com/2009/sample-post.
Not only will you be found by the search bots, but humans will find the address more visual pleasing and informative, as well. Don’t let this wonderful SEO opportunity pass by. It is such an exciting moment to see a post brought up as number 1 following a Google search. Why not change your permalink structure now and remember to leave a comment after you see your name in Google lights!
Resending a 1ShoppingCart Email Broadcast to a Customer
September 26, 2009
There may be occasions where a few customers have missed a broadcast or autoresponder message with important sign up or purchase details. An easy way to resend the message to specific customers is by creating a new autoresponder group. In this way, you can broadcast only to those who missed the details.
Start by creating a new autoresponder and name it, for example, Resend 0901. View the Client Details for each customer who missed a message and subscribe them to the new autoresponder. Revisit the email broadcast list and select the message to be re-broadcast. The recipient(s) will be the Resend autoresponder group you have just created. Select the broadcast time and send the email.
If customers missed a previous autoresponder message, find the missed message and copy it to the new Resend autoresponder group, then set it to send out with 0 days delay. View the Client Details for each customer who missed the broadcast message and subscribe them to the new autoresponder. This will immediately send them the missed message. Once the re-broadcast has been successful, you can decide whether or not to keep or delete the Resend autoresponder.
Contact us if you need some help with the solution. If you try it out, be sure to stop back and comment on your success!
Email Marketing Gets Better With 1ShoppingCart
September 8, 2009
If you haven’t heard, 1ShoppingCart launched it’s improved email marketing system recently. My fellow virtual assistants and I have been anxiously awaiting this update to check out the now-included newsletter templates for broadcasts or monthly ezines. There are several well-designed format choices available depending on the type of message to be sent out:
- Welcome – clean and simple format for a quick message
- Invitation – single column format for a quick invitation to an event
- Single – single column format
- Right – right sidebar with a main column for articles
- Left – left sidebar with a main column for articles
- Coupon – used for product promotions and announcements
- Promotion – used for product promotions and announcements
The nice selection of templates are ready to use but can be easily customized for client branding, if needed. Here’s a great short video demo to learn more about all the updates … even more reasons why I love working with this shopping cart platform. Go see for yourself!
