Tri-City Corvette Club

no title

Meeting, Thursday Dec. 14, 2006

Christmas Party&Elections

Hello Everyone,

Our next meeting is Thursday, Dec. 14th, 2006. It will be our Club Christmas Party and also our election meeting. Our meetings are held at the Church of the Living God located at 5770 Concord Road in Beaumont, Texas. The Church of the Living God is located directly behind the Target Store on the Eastex Freeway in Beaumont. As always the dinner portion of our meeting tries to start at 7:00 P.M. with the business portion of the meeting starting at 7:30 P.M.

If you wish to participate in the gift exchange, please bring a wrapped gift in the amount of approximately $10.00. We will draw numbers for the gifts..

As always guests are more than welcome, the more the merrier!

Hugs,
Dorothy Crocker

Cafepress Shop

Hello Everyone,

Please check out our new Cafepress Shop! The Shop button is to the left side of the screen just below the Home and Booking Module Buttons...

There are some really neat items to check out with Christmas coming up!!

Hugs,
Dorothy Crocker

Christmas Meeting&Elections

Hello Everyone,

Please don't forget our Christmas&Elections Meeting this Thursday, Dec. 8th at 7:00 P.M. Located at The Church of the Living God at 5770 Concord Road in Beaumont, Texas. The Church of the Living God is located directly behind the Target Store on Eastex Freeway.

We will be having a dinner meeting and a gift exchange. If you wish to participate in the gift exchange please bring a gift valued at about $10.00.

We try to start the dinner portion of our meeting at 7:00 P.M. with the business portion starting at around 7:30 P.M.

As always guests are more than welcome!

Hugs,
Dorothy Crocker

Bird Flu Paranoia

Bird flu? Should you be worried? Read this article by Dr. Susan Clubb."Statement on bird flu
paranoia."Go to:

http://oldworldaviaries.com

Click on"What's new,"then click on the first link.

Bird Flu is for the Birds!!!

From: Steve Duncan<>

Bird Flu is for the Birds!!!

Prepared for the National Avian Welfare Alliancewww.nawabirds.org

November 2005

Human influenza is a highly contagious disease. Most of us have had the flu multiple times in our lives. In the United States, influenza epidemics occur nearly every winter and are responsible for a substantial amount of illness and deaths. Approximately 114,000 hospitalizations and 20,000-50,000 deaths occur in the U.S. on an annual basis as a result of the flu (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5107a1.htm).

If influenza is so easily transmissible, why aren't more people catching the bird flu directly from birds? The reason is that birds and humans are different. The qualities that allow the virus to easily infect birds don't work well on humans.

Although itâs true that avian flu viruses can become human flu viruses, the typical way a flu virus makes the jump from birds to humans is by infecting a pig that just happens to have a concurrent infection of human flu virus - 2 different viruses in the same animal at the same time. Pigs are more easily infected by both types of viruses and they serve as a sort of mixing pot. Different types of influenza viruses can exchange genetic material when they are exposed to each other in the same host. This is called antigenic shift.

Antigenic shift allows for large amounts of new genetic information to be acquired by the avian flu from the human flu virus when they are exposed to each other. If the avian flu virus acquires the genetic factors that allow it to easily pass from human to human, then it is possible for the avian virus to make the jump to become a human influenza.

Because birds and humans are very different, there are generally multiple factors that must be acquired in order for the virus to make the transition from avian to human flu. The actual factors that allow an avian flu virus to easily infect birds may prevent it from easily infecting humans. Additionally, the factors that allow the avian flu viruses to easily infect humans are likely to alter more than just the virusesâ ability to infect humans. It is also likely to alter the virusâs impact on the human body. In the case of H5N1, this means it is just as likely to become nothing more than the standard flu, as opposed to the killer flu, if it makes the jump to human influenza.

One of the reasons Asia is a breeding ground for influenza is the animal husbandry practices that are used there. Poultry can be brought to markets where they are exposed to poultry from other farms, and live birds are brought back home if unsold. Ducks, poultry and pigs are allowed to commingle on the farms where there is very little biosecurity. Poultry are allowed to free-range and domestic ducks are allowed to graze in open wetlands where wild waterfowl visit. This increases the likelihood that avian flu viruses which are common in wild waterfowl can mix with human flu viruses which are common in pigs. This allows for a shuffling of genetic traits between the different strains of viruses which creates new strains as a result. If the new strains have the ability to infect humans easily, then the farmer, or other people around the livestock, will catch it and the virus spreads through the human population from there.

Animal husbandry practices in the United States are not conducive to the mingling of avian flu strains with human flu strains. If H5N1 arrives in the United States via migrating waterfowl, it is not going to have the opportunity to acquire the traits necessary to become a human flu virus here.

Influenza viruses also change their genetic properties by simple random mutations. This process is called antigenic drift, in contrast to antigenic shift. Antigenic drift is responsible for small changes in the genetic properties of the virus. All influenza viruses mutate regularly and thereby undergo antigenic drift constantly. This is the reason we can't carry immunity to the flu from one year to the next. This yearâs flu will be different enough from last yearâs flu so that our immune system will not recognize it or have the proper antibodies to fight it off. Although antigenic drift can result in changes in pathogenicity in avian flu virus strains, it rarely, if ever, results in the significant genetic changes required to allow an avian flu virus to make the jump to becoming a human flu virus.

It is theoretically possible for an avian flu virus to accumulate enough mutations through antigenic drift to gain the ability to infect humans easily, without antigenic shift or an intermediate host involved, but this generally requires a specific series of mutations to happen. Because more than a single mutation is involved, the odds of this happening are very small. Any single mutation in the direction that may lead to an avian flu becoming a human flu is likely to cause that avian flu strain to be less capable of infecting birds and thereby surviving long enough to gain the additional mutations necessary to complete the jump. Even if an avian virus strain was capable of accumulating the correct series of mutations to become a human influenza, those genetic changes are also just as likely to reduce the impact the virus has on the human body.

In order for an influenza virus to be easily spread throughout the human population and result in a pandemic, it must be mild enough for people to be able to go out and spread the virus once they are infected. If the virus kills its victims quickly, as is the case with the current strain of H5N1, there will be dramatically less opportunities for the virus to be transmitted from the victim to a new host. The infection becomes what epidemiologists call"self-limiting". Because a victim quickly becomes too sick to get out in public, the virus does not have the chance to spread to a large number of people. This further illustrates why the genetic changes required for H5N1 to become a human flu virus are unlikely to cause it to become the deadly killer that the media is playing it up to be.

The current pattern displayed by H5N1 illustrates how difficult it is for avian flu viruses to infect humans. Despite the fact that there have been millions of H5N1 infected poultry in Asia in the past few years, only a little over one hundred human H5N1 cases have been reported. This is a very small number in comparison to the probability of numerous human exposures resulting from the husbandry practices there. Keep in mind that in Asia poultry are frequently sold live to the consumer who must butcher and prepare the bird themselves.

Since 1997, more than 16 outbreaks of H5 and H7 influenza have occurred in poultry within the United States. The virus strains in each of these outbreaks were just as likely as H5N1 to become human influenza viruses, yet none of them made the jump from avian virus to human virus. Of all the people exposed to the avian flu during these 16 outbreaks, according to the CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/), only 2 mild cases of human infection in the U.S. resulted.

Despite the media attention to Bird Flu, there is no increased risk of catching the flu from exposure to birds, other than poultry in Asia. There have been no documented cases of humans catching Avian Flu from pet birds such as parrots, finches and other commonly kept species
(http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/gen-info/avian-flu-humans.htm).

All birds imported into the United States have been routinely tested for pathogenic Avian Influenza since 1974. Of the many millions of birds imported during this 30 year period, pathogenic Avian Influenza was only found in 1 shipment of birds from China. Exotic birds being legally imported into the United States represent virtually NO risk of introducing pathogenic Avian Influenza virus as they are ALL tested during quarantine.

Exotic birds being bred for sale in the United States represent virtually NO risk for Pathogenic Avian Influenza unless they are co-mingled with infected poultry and at this time pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5 or H7 strains) are not known to exist in the United States. USDA is continually monitoring for the presence of Influenza and [END - Exotic Newcastle] Disease in domestic"backyard"and commercial flocks.

It is important to understand that Bird Flu or Avian Influenza is a disease of birds (mostly poultry), and it is not readily transmitted to humans. For many millennia, Avian Influenza has existed in North America. It is found in migrating waterfowl on an annual basis. H5N1 is no more likely to infect humans than the Avian Flu strains that arrive every year yet do not infect humans.

If H5N1 gains the ability for human to human transmission, it will be humans spreading the disease to humans, not bird to human transmission. A human version of the virus will most likely enter the US by infected persons arriving from outside the US on airplanes. The virus will not arrive by imported birds which are quarantined, and not by migrating birds. And example of this type of disease transmission was the spread of SARS into Canada. This disease introduction was quickly recognized and brought under control due to vigilance of medical and regulatory personnel.

The fear of contracting bird flu from pet, companion, or zoo birds in the United States is totally unfounded. The chance of contracting bird flu from native birds is also extremely remote. Attention needs to be appropriately placed on surveillance of incoming international travelers if and when the virus shifts sufficiently to maintain virulent human to human transmission.

Software Upgrade

Regulars to this site already know that a software upgrade has been in the planning stages for many months now.

This announcement is just a friendly reminder that the site may be down for extended periods of time. If you find yourself on an unfamiliar screen or just can't log in at all please know that it's your trusted web folks are at work and there is probably nothing seriously wrong.

Or it might mean that another hurricane is coming and we should all seek shelter immediately. But chances are it's just us working on the site.

If/When this happens, just give us 15 or 30 minutes and come on back because we really love it when you visit and participate on your Triangle Bird Club site.

--Admin

Happy Birthday Dorothy!!!

What's it take to make a website fly???

It's not technology which us computer geeks forget.
It's not pictures, but those make a colorful set.

Same is true with text and information.
If these things ran our engine
we'd just spend our time reading the online encyclopedia!

No, what it takes to make THIS website fly
is Dorothy Crocker!

On this day let's not rob her.

Giver a call, send her an email, and say Hay!
Tell her you know what it takes
is a special person that day after day
is on the phone, on the site. by your side,
To maker sure everthings alright,

that no turkeys have made a mess of our nest.

We all know when she's gone.
It's like we're all left alone!

But thank God she comes back.
Willing to attack.

No hurricane will keep her down.
Gonna take more than a stong wind to make her frown.

Doubt there's been a new member
that's not already a new friend of hers.
Nope, a stranger Dorothy's never met.
And I hope and pray, she stays this way.
We all get along better with her, you bet!

Well I'm no poet,
and by now you know it!
But all I really wanted to say was:

Happy Birthday Dorothy

WHO: Bird FLu FAQS

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/avian_faqs/en/index.html

Bird flu still a world away

Posted tohttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bird_Breeder-Hobbyiston Thu Nov 3, 2005 12:32 am

Subject: Bird flu still a world away

From: Evansville Courier&Press - Evansville,IN,USA
http://www.courierpress.com/ecp/news/article/0,1626,ECP_734_4199645,00.html

Denny Simmons / Courier&Press

Outbreaks of the bird flu in Asia and Europe have the
attention of poultry growers worldwide, including
companies that raise millions of chickens in Western
Kentucky. The Kentucky State Veterinarian's Office, and
others, say this strain of flu is not present in the
United States.

Bird flu still a world away
Western Kentucky poultry growers say it is unlikely to
strike flocks here

By JOHN LUCAS
Courier&Press Western Kentucky bureau (270) 333-4899 or

October 31, 2005

Outbreaks of a particularly virulent strain of avian influenza, or bird flu, in Asia and Europe have the attention of poultry growers worldwide, including companies that raise millions of broilers in Western Kentucky.

But those companies say it is unlikely the disease will strike flocks here.

Representatives of Tyson Foods and Perdue Farms, which contract broiler flocks for processing at plants in Henderson and Ohio counties in Kentucky, said the strain of avian flu is not present in the United States and never has been reported in this country. The Kentucky State Veterinarian's Office agrees.

They note, too, that differences in the way poultry is raised in Asia and the United States make commercial flocks here less susceptible."They (Asian counties) have a very different poultry industry than we do in the U.S.,"said Dr. Sue Billings, deputy Kentucky State Veterinarian."They have birds, and they just run loose in the streets. There's a lot of cultural differences that make it (spread of the virus) difficult to stop."The flu virus now causing concern is a highly pathogenic H5N1 strain that can infect humans who have contact with sick birds or their droppings.

Health officials have expressed worry that the virus could mutate, or change, to pass not just from bird-to-human but also from human-to-human, which it has not been confirmed to be able to do. If that occurred, it could lead to a worldwide outbreak, or pandemic, the likes of which has not been seen since 1918 when another bird flu outbreak caused an estimated 50 million deaths. The avian influenza virus identified in Asia and Europe appears to be spread principally by migrating wild birds that serve as carriers.

"We recognize the fact we could have an introduction just from migratory waterfowl,"Billings said."It's now moving west from Asia, and there's no way to prevent that occurrence from migratory waterfowl interfacing with domestic poultry.""But how likely is it the strain will end up in the United States? I can't answer that,"Billings said.

The virus is unlikely to spread across the Atlantic from migrating birds, she said, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has quarantine and inspection programs in place for imported fowls. Additionally, the importation of all birds from counties with confirmed cases of the virus has been banned. Poultry companies here say that by raising their chickens indoors they have no contact with wild birds or opportunity for the virus to enter the chicken houses by that manner.

Visitors to houses are limited and are required to wear protective, disposable footwear and walk through disinfectant solutions to prevent the spread of disease."Biosecurity is a major priority for our company,"said Tyson Foods spokesman Gary Mickelson."For example, chickens raised for our North American processing operations are housed in modern, enclosed facilities, which prevent contact with wild birds and other potential carriers of disease.

By contrast, most chickens and ducks raised in Asia are allowed to run free with little separation from the environment."We also take other biosecurity measures to protect bird health such as'all-in, all-out'farming, which involves moving same-age birds in and out of production houses as one group or flock,"he said.

"We've had health programs and biosecurity for a number of years,"said Perdue Farms spokeswoman Julie DeYoung. The company routinely conducts random tests to make sure flocks are not infected by avian flu, she said. There are several strains of avian influenza, and they vary in their ability to cause disease and to spread among flocks. No avian influenza is reported at present in the United States, with the last reported outbreaks occurring in the mid-1990s at egg farms in Pennsylvania. A major epidemic occurred in the mid-1980s in the Northeast and required two years to eradicate. More than 17 million birds were destroyed at a cost of more than $70 million.

Modern broiler houses typically have about 25,000 chickens in them and some complexes in Western Kentucky have 16 or more houses in near proximity. If avian flu is detected, typically the entire flocks would be removed and destroyed to prevent the spread of the disease to other birds. However, the possibility of a severe outbreak of avian flu among such houses has been a concern for some time, said local Sierra Club representative Aloma Dew of Owensboro, Ky.

Dew and the Sierra Club have opposed construction of confined animal feeding operations, such as broiler houses, in the region. She acknowledged birds in the controlled houses would not likely come into contact with wild birds but said,"when you have that many birds in a facility, the chances of something like this getting started and out of hand are greater."

Thanksgiving Celebration

Hello Everyone,

Don't forget our Annual Thanksgiving Dinner meeting is Thursday, Nov. 10th 2005. Shirley Pearson volunteered to cook a Turkey for the dinner.Everyone else is supposed to bring the rest of the fixings for the dinner!I'll bring the chocolate cheesecake, as long as I can get it!

Come a little early to visit! Remember the dinner portion of our meeting starts at 7:00 P.M. and we try to start the business portion of the meeting at about 7:30 P.M. Also, we will be taking nominations for the officers who are up for election at this meeting, so it's important that you're present!

Our meeting location is at The Church of the Living God, located at 5770 Concord in Beaumont. The Church is located directly behind Target on the Eastex Freeway.

As always visitors are warmly welcome!

From Mattie Sue: Wing Feathers Revisited: Conundrum on Treasure Street

Posted to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bird_Breeder-Hobbyist

On Sun, 9 Oct 2005"Mattie Sue Athan"wrote:

I didn't wake screaming last night, like I did the night
before and the night before that. As time passes, I expect
that to happen less. Undoubtedly these anxious cries
escape from a heart troubled by things I witnessed
retrieving trapped birds and other pets from the rubble of
the mother of modern North American disasters. My bad
dreams are personal, not about the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina, but about nightmarish things that could happen to
my pets or to me.

To say that I've been affected is an understatement. Could
anyone with a life dedicated to the care and keeping of
companion parrots not be torn -- like an earthquake might
someday rend California or Missouri -- by seeing what
happens to birds in cages when disaster strikes? Some
birds survived by eating their cage mates. Some birds
drowned; some died of thirst with food still in their
bowls; some of starvation with water still available. Some
birds, likewise, were found in time, given Gatorade or
Lactated Ringers, and moved to safety. Some will,
undoubtedly, be recaptured or naturalize -- become a
wild-living part of the environmental gumbo on the
Gulf Coast.

I'm comforted tonight remembering a rooftop on Treasure
Street near Elysian Fields in New Orleans. The scene is
etched in my conscience: a vision of cages, many empty
cages, with doors wide open and evidence of birds
returning time and again to eat and drink. Kudos to those
who released their birds rather than leave them entrapped
on the altar of time.

In that circumstance those untrimmed wing feathers were
tools for survival, for I did see free flying parrots in
the days I was there between Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
While it is not my place to question or judge anyone who
didn't release their birds -- many people were running for
their own lives and didn't have the luxury of time needed
to make decisions about their birds -- I must send special
congratulations to the people on Treasure Street and to
others who, when the barometer was falling, the winds and
waters rising, released their birds to the sky to freely
find their fate.

Of course, disaster kills caged and free birds alike.
There were dead birds -- both parrots and native species
-- on the roof with the empty cages, too. Wild life is no
picnic, especially during a widespread environmental
disaster. Water was available, but it was filled with
organic and chemical filth. However, unlike the aviaries
with mostly drowned birds and a few escapees surviving
above the water line, on Treasure Street there was
evidence of mostly living and only a few dead birds. We
visited that rooftop time and time again to refill bowls
and saw recently-molted macaw and cockatoo feathers;
ringnecks, quakers, and one parrotlet in the
trees overhead.

RETHINKING MY WAYS

Here again, I must reconsider the great conundrum: to trim
or not to trim a companion parrot's wing feathers. While I
did, for quite some time, openly advocate trimming wing
feathers for safety in companion parrots, in recent years
I have increasingly counseled careful clients to allow
flight for behavioral reasons in their companion parrots.
Now it's time, also, to reexamine safety issues.

Certainly disasters on the Gulf Coast have killed many
birds in cages, but likewise in-home accidents have
probably killed equal numbers of flighted companion
parrots in sinks and toilets, ceiling fans and swinging
doors. Most of these deaths are probably preventable. Is
it time for behavior consultants to counsel better in-home
safety, flight-training, harness-training, and retrieval
techniques rather than reaching for the scissors?

Every year I have come closer to a radical shift in
philosophy. I haven't trimmed my own birds'wing feathers
for years, but I have now backed off on recommending it
for others.

On September 15, 2005, I arrived at the philosophical
point I needed to reach. In most circumstances, if a home
can't be made safe for a bird with wings, I don't think
that is the right place for a parrot. Yes, there are a few
circumstances in which trimming wing feathers may be in
the birds'best interests; but if I have any opportunity
in the future, I will be counseling to accommodate flight
rather than trim wing feathers of most companion parrots.

xoxox,

Mattie Sue

Best-Selling/Award-Winning Author, IAABC Certified
Companion Parrot Behavior Consultant
A mind is a terrible thing to close.
No good deed goes unpunished.

ÃÂ

Disaster Relief

Hello Everyone,

I was wondering with so many people and pets displaced for an unknown amount of time, do any of you think that we should do something to help out?

I took 50 pounds of dog food out to the Humane Society today and let them know that if they had any birds come in that needed to be fostered to let me know. The only dog that they had that would possibly fit in our household was a male mini pinscher, and Larry was worried about how Jamie's female pitt would react to it, so I didn't bring him home. I know that these people are really worried about their families, where they're going to live for the next month or two, or even longer, and their pets.

I heard that the Red Cross came into a church that was housing evacuees and closed them down because the church wasn't an authorized shelter!Now I personally would think that they would appreciate any help that they could get.

I know that Ford Park needs a lot to help with the evacuees out there. I heard that they will house them for the next two weeks, I don't know where they will go after that. I was watching FOX News earlier today and they were saying that it will be a month to three months before electricity is restored in New Orleans, much less Mississippi and Alabama.

If anyone has any ideas on how we can help, please post here, let's try to get something going. One thing that was suggested to me was how about some board games to keep the kids occupied.

Hugs,

AFA's Disaster Relief Program

The American Federation of Aviculture, Inc. (AFA) has established a Disaster Relief Program to assist aviculturists who have been affected by natural events such as hurricanes, wild fires,
earthquakes, etc. Disaster relief is available to provide immediate
and short term assistance to aviculturists and their birds.

Matt Schmit, South Central AFA Regional Director is starting to
coordinate the AFA's Disaster Relief efforts in the areas
affected by Hurricane Katrina. Please contact him if you:
* Are in need of assistance
* Know someone in need of assistance
* Are able to assist in the disaster relief efforts
* Know of someone who wants to help in the disaster
relief efforts

Matt Schmit - AFA South Central Regional Director
713-862-3352 home
713-806-2587 mobile
aves75@ loriinae.com (remove space)

If you would like to contribute to the AFA Disaster Relief Fund,
you can email, call, or snail mail the AFA Office at:

American Federation of Aviculture
P.O.Box 7312
N. Kansas City, MO 69116
www.afabirds.com

Phone: 816-421-2473
Fax: 816-421-3214
Email:afaoffice@aol.com

Does Your Website Have a Clear Call to Action?

Does Your Website Have a Clear Call to Action?

One of the things I often notice on websites that I visit is that I'm not sure where to go or what to do when I arrive.Â There are those websites that are simply online brochures that tell me all about the features of a product or service, but don't ask anything of me.Â There are other websites that give me headaches, as they try to send me in too many directions at once.Â When faced with too many choices, I become overwhelmed and ultimately leave the site without taking any action.

On the homepage of your website, you need to present one clear call to action to your visitor.Â Do you want the visitor to listen to an audio clip?Â How about signing up for your email newsletter?Â Do you want the visitor to call a toll-free number and listen to a message? Would you like them to subscribe to your blog updates? Do you have a free ecourse that you're offering to your visitors?Â For owners of online businesses, I strongly believe that the most important call to action that should appear on your website is an offer to give something away that would cause the visitor to give you his name and primary email address. This information becomes the gold in your marketing funnel.Â You begin to build a list in this fashion, and can email your contacts on this list on a regular basis with special offers, new programs, or just news updates.

I have a couple of ways that I capture contact info.Â One way is through my email newsletter service, Ezine Director,http://ezinedirector.com?affiliate_id=250924, which offers me the coding for a subscription form that I can place on the homepage of my website to collect essential contact information.Â I also use the form capability in my shopping cart, Kickstart Cart,http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/?pr=31&id=59401, to capture this same info if I'm offering a free teleclass, for example.Â I can then invite these people to subscribe to my newsletter, send them an email with a special offer, and continue to market to them since they have become a valid contact by signing up for something that I've offered.Â Or, I can use the autoresponder feature found in my shopping cart program and set up a predetermined number of autoresponder emails that automatically go out to a contact when they sign up for something that I offer.

Too many times I hear my clients lament that they're getting traffic to their websites, but the phone isn't ringing.Â I think it's pretty unrealistic for you to expect a visitor to buy from you immediately upon"meeting"you via your website or becoming acquainted with your service, unless you offer a very highly specialized product or service that visitors cannot obtain elsewhere.Â Think of your own buying habits.Â I'll bet that you fall in the 7-10"touches"category that marketing experts say is needed in order to get someone to purchase what you're selling.Â What do I mean by a"touch"?Â It could be an email newsletter that you send out regularly, or a direct mail postcard that you send, or a phone call that you make, or a lunch date that you set. It takes roughly 7-10 contacts, or"touches"for someone to begin to get to know you, respect you, and like you before they'll make the decision to buy from you.

If your offer is compelling enough, 1%-3% of the visitors to your website will convert, or take the action you want them to take.Â What constitutes a compelling offer?Â Once upon a time, it was simply an invitation to subscribe to your email newsletter.Â However, it seems that everyone is writing an email newsletter these days, and with the levels of spam growing increasingly larger day-by-day, a free email newsletter is no longer as enticing as it once was. The current trend is to offer a special report or perhaps an ebook with useful info to your visitor, and let them know that when they request this report or ebook, they'll also get a free subscription to your email newsletter.

To be effective, your call to action needs to prominently displayed on your homepage, not hidden mid-way down the page in a paragraph of text.Â There's a saying in the newspaper industry for reporters encouraging them"not to bury the lead", referring to the major sentence that succinctly encapsulates a story and compels readers to read further for more details.Â In this case, your"lead", or your call to action, should be the first thing a visitor sees when arriving at your homepage.Â In some cases, you may want to have the call to action appear on every page, making it crystal clear to your visitors what action you want them to take.

What compelling piece of information can you offer visitors to capture their names and email addresses?Â Once you have that info, what is your plan to follow up regularly?Â Creating a clear call to action on your website, along with an effective follow-up strategy, will measurably increase your sales. Isn't that we all want from our businesses?

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it: Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps self-employed professionals maximize their online presence to make more profit in less time.Â To sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://www.OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com.

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New Website - OnlineWroughtIron.com

Hey Everybody,

There's a new website in town, it's www.OnlineWroughtIron.com. They build custom wrought iron fences and sell them online.Â

They've got a very nice selection of fence panel styles you can see byclicking here.

Don't see what you want on their page?Â No problem, give them a call and tell them what you want.Â They'll build it for you.

Check'em out!

test post

this is a test.

see,

testing 1 2 3

this message will self destruct in 5 minutes.

What does the Triangle Bird Club do?

I've introduced myself before. I'll do it again for those of you who didn't read the post. My name is Dimi. I live in Port Arthur. My family and I have around 80 birds - mostly Canaries in which we breed.

In browsing the site, I was wondering exactly what it is the Triangle Bird Club does. Under"Club Information,"I have found what you guys stand for but I'd like to know what actions you take to support your beliefs. Maybe that would be something goodÂ to add to this site. I'm interested in becoming a paying member of the club but before this is done I'd like to know what the money goes towards. Rescues, etc.? Thanks!

What's an action alert?

Do you know what anÂ Action Alert is?

When someone likekbheatonposts an action alert on our website, do you know what that means?

She just posted one yesterday.

It's titled:

NAIA National Animal Interest Alliance

But what is an Action Alert?
It means that the people the we have voted for and put into political leadership are now making decision. Are the making the decisions we thought they would? Are the fulfilling the agenda they promissed?

Activism for animal rights doesn't end at the ballot box. It's a process that we should all should take part steadily, over a long period of time.

An Action Alert is a call to activity, a request for a unified voice to our political leadership.

As a group of bird loving individuals, we don't have to agree on the Iraqi war, what's going on in Bosnia, or North Korea.

But I bet we can agree that smuggling drugged and endangered birds into America to be sold at high prices it too high a price to pay for our common love. Do you think that destroying whole rain forests overseas is too high a price to pay for cheaper oil or lumber? These are just far fetched examples drawn off the top of my head, but what I want to know is, whenkbheaton, or anyone elseÂ with keen political insight, posts an action alert, what is it he or she is asking us to do.Â What habit can we form that integrates into our already busy and hectic lives that will really make a difference in the grand scheme of things?

Let's open a dialogue about how we can serve our common interest with a singular voice.

Let's all learn together what it means to respond to an Action Alert. Let's learn together how we as a group can serve to remind our political leaders what our goals and desires for the futrure of the planet are.

I hope to stir some interest here in forming a unified Â voice supportive of our common interest in the welfare of birds and animals of all kinds.

Any takers? Is this a challenge we're up to? Hope to see some comments in the message boards.Â