The Need for Modules

It happens to every successful business: you installed a shiny new Avaya Partner Systems network and it worked beautifully. A little too beautifully. Business became so productive and so efficient that more and more employees had to be hired. Soon, there weren’t any available lines or extensions. Chaos reigned. Employees had to share phones, 5 people to a phone. You had to disconnect from the internet so you could plug in your fax machine.

Company heads spent countless hours in meetings, sending memo after memo filled with cries for help. Buying another network was suggested by a lower ranking executive, but he was fired for offering silly, wasteful ideas.

There is an answer though, a solution, a way out from the despair and misery caused by a fundamental lack of lines and extensions. Modules.

Modules are Quick and Easy

Modules are the key that unlocks the door to providing a phone for every employee, a port for every computer and fax machine. So expand quickly and with ease. Sleep soundly knowing you’re picking an efficient, cost effective trunking option.

The T1 module has two benefits: it adds 16 lines of fractional T1 service and better utilization of T1 functionality. But why stop at a single module; more employees equals more lines, and one module only gives you 16 extras.

Purchase multiple modules, and you can create the perfect network, capable of supporting all your employees. Depending on how you configure them, the modules can either add up to 19 lines and 44 extensions, or 31 lines and 8 extensions. It’s your choice, based on your needs.

Modules Have Features

Modules have another benefit: they have features. The features are icing on the network expanding cake. The cake is rich and moist; the flavor is perfectly balanced without being too heavy. On its own, the cake would be just fine. But the icing adds a whole new dimension to the cake. A new characteristic that enhances the overall flavor of the cake. It’s the same way with the modules and features.

They come with advanced telephony capabilities that help increase the productivity and efficiency: caller ID, send all calls, and 5 party conference call. The features also boost mobility; Cell Phone Connect and Remote Call Forwarding work in conjunction allowing you to receive business calls anywhere you go.

Online Benefits for Craft Businesses

The internet has an endless number of benefits for craftspeople, not just as a medium for selling the end product but for each step that leads to sales. The fact that you are reading this shows that you already utilize the web for information but perhaps you have not yet considered some of the following points presented. The ideas provided in this article have come from interviews with craftspeople, conducted for AussieCrafts.com, in the interest of sharing information with our peers. When boiled down to its bare essentials this is the true essence of the internet but it sometimes gets lost in all of the advertising and sales. The interviews spawned a host of ways in which the internet assists the crafters, both in their business and creatively, and provided much insight into untangling the web.InspirationWhen asked about the sources they use for inspiration most craftspeople have said that the internet is a much used research tool. This is particularly useful with commission pieces, where a client gives a basic idea and there is a need to familiarise yourself with the subject Browsing websites is also great for when you want to start a new piece but are not quite sure where to begin. No matter what craft you do if you are stuck for ideas on what to create there are always plenty of places to get some quick inspiration online. No matter what craft you do if you are stuck for ideas on what to create there are always plenty of places to get some quick inspiration online. The obvious way to get ideas is to search for your craft in the search engines but some other methods are.

Type your craft name into Google image search
Yahoo groups on your craft often have galleries
Online stores that sell your craft

Historical sites related to your craft, most crafts did after all come from very ancient beginnings.

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VOIP Telephony - The Benefits and Limitations

Previously we explored the history and technology that gaverise to VOIP Telephone service (*see footnotes). Today we will examinesome of the benefits and also the drawbacks of this new opportunity.

In previous articles we discovered that traditional "Landline" typephone service is set up much like a "Toll Highway". Billing startswhen the "Circuit" is opened, and continues until it is closed.Just like travelling down a Tollway, the longer you stay on, and thefarther you travel, the more "Toll Booths" you pass through. Thesetoll booths are the phone company's switches, and you get chargedfor every one that you pass through.

In contrast, VOIP phones use "Packet" switching. As the broadbandInternet connection is always open, digitized voice signals aresent to the receiver in discrete packets. The result is that no"dead air" exists on the line, as no traffic is sent when there isa lull or pause in the conversation. This allows several two-wayconversations to use the same "bandwidth", or space that previouslywas tied up by ONE call.

This has resulted in great economy for VOIP providers who in turnpass along the savings to the end user. Most top VOIP plans runaround 30 dollars a month, and the best include International callsto many countries worldwide within that base fee along with a hostof features like Voice Mail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, Three-wayCalling, Online Access, Etc.

While most major traditional carriers have an "all inclusive" plan,none that I know of include International calling, and most of their"basic" plans are double the cost of VOIP. In my experience, the mostcoveted features are also charged extra for. Add in the taxes and fees,and all of a sudden you're talking REAL money!

The other great benefit of VOIP is the ability to take your deviceanywhere and make calls just like you were at home. The best servicesare fully find-me, follow-me capable. This means that wherever youhappen to be, your phone number will find you and ring at THAT location.I use mine with a Laptop, a cheap cigarette lighter a/c converter,a wireless card, and an old "princess" phone in my truck parked outsideof hotspots all the time. That's huge. You can have your office inwhatever hotel or airport or Starbucks you happen to be in at the moment.

Having covered most of the benefits of VOIP, let's examine some ofthe drawbacks. The major one is spotty 911 service availability. Asthe device is portable, any call to 911 will result in emergencycrews being sent to the device's address of record, which is set upwhen you activate the VOIP device and service. Obviously this doesn'tdo you much good if you are in a hotel in Montana but live in Ohio.

One way around this is to change your address with your provider whenyou travel, and then change it back when you return home. Of course,this only works with domestic addresses, and you must remember to do it.

A better way is to ignore the issue entirely, and keep a very basic,cheap, no frills service plan with your local phone provider. This willstill be cheaper by far than a full blown plan. Also, you avoid the othermain issue with VOIP- Power Outages. If power goes out, or you lose yourInternet Connection, you lose your phone service. Of course, you runthat risk with today's cordless phones too, so it's always a good ideato have an old hardwired phone around the house, or at least a cellphone available.

An SEO Glossary - Common SEO Terms Defined

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become an essential weapon in the arsenal of every online business. Unfortunately, for most business owners and marketing managers (and even many webmasters), it's also somewhat of an enigma. This is partly due to the fact that it's such a new and rapidly changing field, and partly due to the fact that SEO practitioners tend to speak in a language all of their own which, without translation, is virtually impenetrable to the layperson. This glossary seeks to remedy that situation, explaining specialist SEO terms in plain English...

AdWords

See Sponsored Links.

algorithm

A complex mathematical formula used by search engines to assess the relevance and importance of websites and rank them accordingly in their search results. These algorithms are kept tightly under wraps as they are the key to the objectivity of search engines (i.e. the algorithm ensures relevant results, and relevant results bring more users, which in turn brings more advertising revenue).

article PR

The submitting of free reprint articles to many article submission sites and article distribution lists in order to increase your website's search engine ranking and Google PageRank. (In this sense, the "PR" stands for PageRank.) Like traditional public relations, article PR also conveys a sense of authority because your articles are widely published. And because you're proving your expertise and freely dispensing knowledge, your readers will trust you and will be more likely to remain loyal to you. (In this sense, the "PR" stands for Public Relations.)

article submission sites

Websites which act as repositories of free reprint articles. They are sites where authors can submit their articles free of charge, and where webmasters can find articles to use on their websites free of charge. Article submission sites generate revenue by selling advertising space on their websites. See also article PR.

backlink

A text link to your website from another website. See also link.

copy

The words used on your website.

copywriter

A professional writer who specializes in the writing of advertising copy (compelling, engaging words promoting a particular product or service). See also SEO copywriter and web copywriter.

crawl

Google finds pages on the World Wide Web and records their details in its index by sending out ‘spiders’ or ‘robots’. These spiders make their way from page to page and site to site by following text links. To a spider, a text link is like a door.

domain name

The virtual address of your website (normally in the form www.yourbusinessname.com). This is what people will type when they want to visit your site. It is also what you will use as the address in any text links back to your site.

ezine

An electronic magazine. Most publishers of ezines are desperate for content and gladly publish well written, helpful articles and give you full credit as author, including a link to your website.

Flash

A technology used to create animated web pages (and page elements).

free reprint article

An article written by you and made freely available to other webmasters to publish on their websites. See also article PR.

Google

The search engine with the greatest coverage of the World Wide Web, and which is responsible for most search engine-referred traffic. Of approximately 11.5 billion pages on the World Wide Web, it is estimated that Google has indexed around 8.8 billion. This is one reason why it takes so long to increase your ranking!

Google AdWords

See Sponsored Links.

Google PageRank

How Google scores a website’s importance. It gives all sites a mark out of 10. By downloading the Google Toolbar, you can view the PR of any site you visit.

Google Toolbar

A free tool you can download. It becomes part of your browser toolbar. It’s most useful features are it’s PageRank display (which allows you to view the PR of any site you visit) and it’s AutoFill function (when you’re filling out an online form, you can click AutoFill, and it enters all the standard information automatically, including Name, Address, Zip code/Postcode, Phone Number, Email Address, Business Name, Credit Card Number (password protected), etc.) Once you’ve downloaded and installed the toolbar, you may need to set up how you’d like it to look and work by clicking Options (setup is very easy). NOTE: Google does record some information (mostly regarding sites visited).

HTML

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the coding language used to create much of the information on the World Wide Web. Web browsers read the HTML code and display the page that code describes.

Internet

An interconnected network of computers around the world.

JavaScript

A programming language used to create dynamic website pages (e.g. interactivity).

keyword

A word which your customers search for and which you use frequently on your site in order to be relevant to those searches. This use known as targeting a keyword. Most websites actually target ‘keyword phrases’ because single keywords are too generic and it is very difficult to rank highly for them.

keyword density

A measure of the frequency of your keyword in relation to the total wordcount of the page. So if your page has 200 words, and your keyword phrase appears 10 times, its density is 5%.

keyword phrase

A phrase which your customers search for and which you use frequently on your site in order to be relevant to those searches.

link

A word or image on a web page which the reader can click to visit another page. There are normally visual cues to indicate to the reader that the word or image is a link.

link path

Using text links to connect a series of page (i.e. page 1 connects to page 2, page 2 connects to page 3, page 3 connects to page 4, and so on). Search engine ‘spiders’ and ‘robots’ use text links to jump from page to page as they gather information about it, so it’s a good idea to allow them traverse your entire site via text links.

link partner

A webmaster who is willing to put a link to your website on their website. Quite often link partners engage in reciprocal linking.

link popularity

The number of links to your website. Link popularity is the single most important factor in a high search engine ranking. Webmasters use a number of methods to increase their site's link popularity including article PR, link exchange (link partners / reciprocal linking), link buying, and link directories.

link text

The part of a text link that is visible to the reader. When generating links to your own site, they are most effective (in terms of ranking) if they include your keyword.

meta tag

A short note within the header of the HTML of your web page which describes some aspect of that page. These meta tags are read by the search engines and used to help assess the relevance of a site to a particular search.

natural search results

The ‘real’ search results. The results that most users are looking for and which take up most of the window. For most searches, the search engine displays a long list of links to sites with content which is related to the word you searched for. These results are ranked according to how relevant and important they are.

organic search results

See natural search results.

PPC (Pay-Per-Click advertising)

See Sponsored Links.

PageRank

See Google PageRank.

rank

Your position in the search results that display when someone searches for a particular word at a search engine.

reciprocal link

A mutual agreement between two webmasters to exchange links (i.e. they both add a link to the other’s website on their own website). Most search engines (certainly Google) are sophisticated enough to detect reciprocal linking and they don’t view it very favorably because it is clearly a manufactured method of generating links. Websites with reciprocal links risk being penalized.

robot

See spider.

robots.txt file

A file which is used to inform the search engine spider which pages on a site should not be indexed. This file sits in your site’s root directory on the web server. (Alternatively, you can do a similar thing by placing tags in the header section of your HTML for search engine robots/spiders to read.

Sandbox

Many SEO experts believe that Google ‘sandboxes’ new websites. Whenever it detects a new website, it withholds its rightful ranking for a period while it determines whether your site is a genuine, credible, long term site. It does this to discourage the creation of SPAM websites (sites which serve no useful purpose other than to boost the ranking of some other site). Likewise, if Google detects a sudden increase (i.e. many hundreds or thousands) in the number of links back to your site, it may sandbox them for a period (or in fact penalize you by lowering your ranking or blacklisting your site altogether).

SEO

Search Engine Optimization. The art of making your website relevant and important so that it ranks high in the search results for a particular word.

SEO copywriter

A ‘copywriter’ who is not only proficient at web copy, but also experienced in writing copy which is optimized for search engines (and will therefore help you achieve a better search engine ranking for your website).

search engine

A search engine is an online tool which allows you to search for websites which contain a particular word or phrase. The most well known search engines are Google, Yahoo, and MSN.

site map

A single page which contains a list of text links to every page in the site (and every page contains a text link back to the site map). Think of your site map as being at the center of a spider-web.

SPAM

Generally refers to unwanted and unrequested email sent en-masse to private email addresses. Also used to refer to websites which appear high in search results without having any useful content. The creators of these sites set them up simply to cash in on their high ranking by selling advertising space, links to other sites, or by linking to other sites of their own and thereby increasing the ranking of those sites. The search engines are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and already have very efficient ways to detect SPAM websites and penalize them.

spider

Google finds pages on the World Wide Web and records their details in its index by sending out ‘spiders’ or ‘robots’. These spiders make their way from page to page and site to site by following text links.

Sponsored Links

Paid advertising which displays next to the natural search results. Customers can click on the ad to visit the advertiser’s website. This is how the search engines make their money. Advertisers set their ads up to display whenever someone searches for a word which is related to their product or service. These ads look similar to the natural search results, but are normally labeled “Sponsored Links”, and normally take up a smaller portion of the window. These ads work on a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) basis (i.e. the advertiser only pays when someone clicks on their ad).

submit

You can submit your domain name to the search engines so that their ‘spiders’ or ‘robots’ will crawl your site. You can also submit articles to ‘article submission sites’ in order to have them published on the Internet.

text link

A word on a web page which the reader can click to visit another page. Text links are normally blue and underlined. Text links are what ‘spiders’ or ‘robots’ use to jump from page to page and website to website.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator. The address of a particular page published on the Internet. Normally in the form http://www.yourbusinessname.com/AWebPage.htm.

web copy

See copy.

web copywriter

A ‘copywriter’ who understands the unique requirements of writing for an online medium.

webmaster

A person responsible for the management of a particular website.

wordcount

The number of words on a particular web page.

World Wide Web (WWW)

The vast array of documents published on the Internet. It is estimated that the World Wide Web now consists of approximately 11.5 billion pages.

Methods of Website Promotion

Methods of Website Promotion

Promoting a Website is not an easy task. New Website Developers may have the impression of building a Website and sales are generated. This is far from true. There are millions of Websites. Within those millions, there are bound to be competitors. To rise above, or obtain a portion of the market-share, developers need to utilize an effective promotion campaign.

Establishing a Website is not much different than a brick-and-mortar business. Open a Deli in the heart of a City and millions of potential customers will pass daily. In contrast, open the Deli in the suburbs, and there would be one quarter of the potential customers. Obviously, the City would be much more expensive to get started and maintain, but the revenue should provide for the added expense.

The same holds true in Website Promotion. However, the landscape is different. There are no streets and sidewalks customers have to use. Therefore, our businesses need to be found by customers in a variety of places. It needs to be brought to the potential customer, or viewable from wherever they may be lurking.

Where do we start with Website Promotion?

One of the topics sweeping the developer’s world is Optimization. The internet will naturally bring potential customers, if the site is optimized properly. Computers work hard on matching relevant information. This is a huge benefit to e-business owners.

Before promotion begins, or altering existing efforts, understand the Internet’s backbone. Why has the World Wide Web become popular? Most should agree, information retrieval rules. Internet users don’t have to sit down and watch television waiting for local weather. They don’t have to wait for news of interest. They don’t have to drive to find the best prices. They don’t have to look through cook-books to find a recipe. They don’t have to talk to salespeople for a car. Today it’s all on the, “information,” super highway.

As a developer, focus on information delivery before beginning promotion of a Website. If a page can be divided into two topics, make two separate pages. Over-use of graphics can present problems too. While it’s nice to make a Site pretty, most people don’t care. They want the information or products they are seeking. Sectors such as art could be an exception, but for the most part, lots of graphics are a waste. People read on the internet. Give people something to read, not just something to view.

Promotion Budget

If launching a new campaign, it may take time to decipher an effective budget. There are simple variables that should be considered with budgeting. Given the potential scope of a Website, advertising should be devoted to different areas of the site. For example, paying to promote the free portion of a Website is not logical. In contrast, a free forum may sell advertising. The advertising segment of the site should be exploited.

There is a simple formula to develop a budget. If a site is new, it takes some research and investment to draw an accurate conclusion. Put simply, consider the following; how many potential customers are required to make a sale? From each sale, how much profit is generated? Of the profits, how much is invested into advertising? This identifies the value of potential customers. If ten customers make one sale, and ten dollars are allocated towards advertising, each customer is potentially worth one dollar. However, room for growth could be made by reducing the value of a potential customer or increasing the advertising contribution. A competitive sector may force reduced profits rather than reduced value of potential customers.

Comprehensive budgeting could be applied to aspects of the business. Promote each aspect as a unique entity. For example, a Website that sells music and movies could have separate budgets for the segments. This could reveal vital information to the survival of a business. Implement effective models that assist in tracking expense and results. This is fairly simple with website statistics and tracking tools.

Free Traffic Promotion – Keywords and Phrases

When it comes to free traffic, it’s about information retrieval. People utilize tools that provide information accurately and quickly. These tools rely on the developer’s interpretation of a Website or page (On-Site Optimization). What is the Website or page about? What phrases are people looking for that want to use this site? Information retrieval is a complicated double-edge-sword between people surfing the web and people creating the web. When the people creating the web do not create clear and focused pages, people surfing the Web cannot find them.

Free traffic is a gift from creating user friendly pages, clearly focusing on a specific topic, and the result of promotion efforts. It stems from a good balance. While free traffic primarily comes from Search Engines, it also comes from referring sites. People will write about a Website in blogs, forums, or on their personal pages. People will add links to Sites they like.

If developers hunt for free traffic, problems can arise. Hunting for free traffic has made developers try tricks that got the site removed from Search Engines. This can present a big problem as they are a large source of free targeted traffic. Keep free traffic in mind while promoting a Website, but don’t make it the focus of promotion. It will come naturally over time. Take it as a gift and an acknowledgement that a Website has been optimized well, presents clear information, and is promoted in the right places. Although some may argue the point, don’t anticipate quality free traffic to begin immediately. It takes extensive thought, advertising, and planning for this to happen, especially within competitive sectors.

Promoting in Directories

One place to start promoting a Website is Website Directories. Most directories are organized by topic. Some are more comprehensive than others. In addition, there are, “Niche,” directories that focus on one topic. For example, there are directories for shopping, reference, art, and automotive sites. In contrast, there are general directories that provide all the niches.

Finding an appropriate place within a directory may be difficult. Directories can a large structure. However, a comprehensive structure benefits advertisers with targeting. Comprehensive directories enable developers’ to classify a Website. For example, it maybe possible to promote a site the sells speakers, for cars, but only domestic cars, and ones that are late model. In addition, some directories may implement regional indexing. Targeting an index in a directory can be complex, but it can be a great benefit too.

Don’t expect to rush from directory to directory and establish a bunch or references. Each directory is unique. Take time to understand how the directory is structured, what they expect as a title and description, and how the suggestion process works. Seek similar sites; take note of where they appear, and how they are described.

Directories are generally affordable solutions. Most Directories are indexed by search engines. They help search engines understand a sites focus. In addition, they are a reference point for some people. It may be a good idea to seek-out one or two directories a week, or as appropriate to a budget. Finding good directories will consume a lot of time. However, once a link is added, it will remain there for a long duration.

News and Media Promotion – Public Relations

Public Relations an important factor when promoting any Business. News and Media channels are the vehicles that convey information to the public. News about a business can make a huge impact on the public. Good news can make lots of people remember a business. Some developers release news about every change or added feature to a Website. Ironically, some developers never utilize this area of promotion.

There are a variety of distribution sites that will expose news releases to numerous channels, for a modest fee. In addition, most will offer free options. It may be a good idea to utilize free options for news that is not very important. For example, adding a, “Calculator,” to a Website probably will not gain much attention. However, anything that may be important to the public needs to be announced.

If it can be added to the budget, outsource public relations efforts. PR companies have knowledge of what the media likes and contacts that make them valuable. PR specialists can be found in almost every City.

Ezine Articles - Provide Rich Content

Writing articles is a powerful promotion tool. Some developers refer to this as, “Viral Marketing”. There are Websites that require content. Content brings them traffic. Traffic builds valuable ad space.

Article Distribution sites assist promoters with circulating articles. Many Ezines rely on Distribution Sites for their content. Post an article to a distribution site and the article is, “up-for-grabs,” to anyone. The article begins to circulate the internet like a virus. Everywhere it appears, reference is given to the author and their Website.

Advertising on the Web

There are a variety of reference websites. Generally, these sites consist of Forums, Article content, and Online Chats. They rely on selling ad space as the main revenue stream. While some reference developers are, “trying to rich quick,” there are sites that offer affordable solutions to promote a Website. With free traffic in mind, seek-out text link advertising venues. Look for sites that charge a flat fee. Sites that charge per click or by the impression usually mask links for tracking. This does not build good recognition with search engines.

Seek relevant opportunities for promoting the Website. If the allows people to buy tennis shoes, a sports reference and information area may be prove beneficial. Another might be a reference site about footwear. Trial and error will reveal good advertising sources for promotion. Regardless of the site being promoted, there are reference areas that are valuable promotion tools.

Promotion Summary

The internet moves fast in certain aspects. When it comes to Website promotion, it moves slowly. Modifications that are made to a Web Page are not going to be seen the next day. Significant results appear months later. The most important area of promotion, is keeping accurate records. Website promotion is complex. Developers need to consider on-site and off-site optimization, targeting, and ad construction. The right mix can provide a significant advantage over the competition.

The Plant Philanthropist

The Plant Philanthropist

One year after we moved into our new ranch-style home, the Merion Bluegrass lawn was growing well and the basic flower beds were mapped out. A new home doesn't need repairs, but a myriad of needs kept cropping up to soak up any available money. A trip to the local plant nursery put us in shock when we added up the cost of perennials, mulching and proper bricks for the borders. I would search the want ads for bargain lots of building materials, garden tools, mowers and fertilizer with much success. When people move, they don't want to weigh down the moving van with old tools and bags of fertilizer. They practically give them away.

The one thing people would never part with are their perennials. Plants and trees are quite visible to the new owners and they usually expect that they go with the house. My whole winter was spent browsing the catalogs for hosta, iris, roses, and especially day lilies. Available in mouth-watering shades, these new hybrid day lilies come in different heights and plant habit. Some are good for along a fence, other make good border plants, each clump doubling in size every year. Unlike the road side day lilies that grow to four feet tall, bloom only briefly, and send out root runners to take over the rest of the garden, the hybrids are garden friendly. Unfortunately, a grouping of three roots cost about eight dollars, sending the cost of the needed plants into the hundreds of dollars.

One day, in a conversation with a local nursery owner, he revealed the source of some of his day lilies. The farmer lived in a nearby town and grew day lilies for a living. Some intense research turned up his address and I paid him a visit. Presented with row upon row of cultivated day lilies in every imaginable shape and color, I drooled over owning just a few of them for our garden. I parted with all the money I had, fifteen dollars, and went home with three starter clumps. Before leaving, I took a few pictures of his fields and some individual blossoms he had self propagated. I later made a set for him to keep. One low growing beauty sported forty blooms on each stalk (opening one per day) in tones of deep ruby red. Another met the dawn in diamond dusted five-inch-wide flowers in ivory and shell pink, showing an apple green center. A third boasted four inch blooms in a true lemon yellow.

The following summer, I received a call from the farmer. He informed me that he had sold his farm land to a developer and had already bought ten acres twenty miles further west. He had removed all he needed to seed the new day lily farm but was forced to leave hundreds of mature plants. The bulldozers were slated to start preparing the land for the new development the following week and if I would like, I could help myself to any number of plants for my garden. I almost dropped the phone in excitement. Here was presented to me the most desirable flowering perennials I could dream of for our garden! Free!! I thanked him and spent the next three days digging, boxing, and transporting the day lilies. The next July Fourth we had a barbecue party in the back yard. Ringing the gentle curves of the brick borders bloomed forty varieties of hybrid day lilies, glorifying our new garden and warming our hearts.

The Cheapest Cell Phone PlanS

So you're in the market for a new cell phone plan. You start your cell phone search online to give you an idea on wireless phone service prices. Free cell phones, get a free cell phone, the lowest cell phone rates, compare cell phone rates. Starting to look familiar?

Free cell phone offers and low cellular rate plans are indeed enticing, but are they really the cheapest cell phone plans? To say they have the cheapest cell phone service is also to say they know your calling habits. There is more to cell phone rates than cents per minute.

Isn't the cheapest cell phone plan the one with the smallest bill at the end of each month? It makes sense to me. So how do you find the best cell phone plan with the lowest cellular rates that will leave you with the cheapest cell phone bill at the end of each month?

Cell phone plans come in two forms. Prepaid cell phones, otherwise known as pay as you go cell phone service, and regular monthly cell phone plans. When deciding which is best for you, think about how much you'll use the cellular service each month.

Prepaid cell phone plans are great if you will not be using the cell phone very often. If you use a cell phone for emergencies only, you'll benefit from pay as you go since it doesn't cost much to add minutes to your prepaid cell phone and you won't need to top up again for awhile.

Monthly cell phone plans are best if you are going to use your cellular service often, since many cell phone services offer unlimited nights and weekends, free mobile to mobile, and a healthy amount of anytime minutes. You can even get a free cell phone with a service agreement.

The secret formula to getting the cheapest cell phone plan for you is, usage, plus rates, plus incentives. Incentives being the freebies like free cell phones or free minutes. Find a healthy balance of all three factors, and you'll have your cheapest cell phone plan.