Welcome to the LCNews

Dear $name[$cnt],

In the December issue seasonal topics are addressed. Will Christmas leave your business with a cash crisis or will it be festive spending all round for customers giving you a bright start for 2004? The decision to stay open during the holiday period and persuading staff to help out can be a difficult one. If it's a profitable one for you then you need to read our article about Christmas Bonuses and rewarding your staff. Try to tap into what motivates your staff and how they would like to be rewarded rather than what you think is appropriate.

Remember that although "big is beautiful" if you're small you shouldn’t be ignored. Stand up for your rights and ensure you get paid on time by avoiding the Top 10 excuses for late payment and Bad Service.

I hope you enjoy reading the newsletter and if you have any comments or suggestions please email feedback\@lcn.biz.

Many thanks

LCN's Editor

IN THIS ISSUE...

EURO 2004

Congratulations to Christophe Kasolowsky who won the Euro 2004 quiz run in last months newsletter and who will be rewarded with a free domain name and web hosting for a year. Also congratulations to the England Rugby team for winning the world cup. For those of you who where wondering here are the answers to the Euro 2004 quiz.

1. PORTUGAL is hosting Euro 2004
2. PEPSI is NOT an official sponsor of Euro 2004
3. The matches will take place in 10 venues
4. Aveiro Municipal is the latest stadium to be completed
5. 15 teams will join the hosts in the final
6. There are actually 52 member associations in UEFA
7. The final tournament take place between 12th June- 4th July
8. UEFA was formed on 15th June 1954
9. Kinas is the official mascot of Euro 2004
10. England qualified with 20 points
11. The trophy the teams are competing for is called the HENRI DELAUNAY trophy

HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE CHALLENGE!!

Get a gift domain name with certificate giving you the complete Christmas present!

Whatever you have planned for 2004 seal the idea with a domain name. Whether it's a new business launch or New Year's Resolution to get your life and email organised December is an excellent time to buy a domain name from only £3.75pa for a .co.uk.

It's also an ideal Christmas gift and LCN ensure you have Christmas all wrapped up by providing you with a gift certificate. So if you'd like to surprise a friend or family member then a domain name is the perfect gift. To claim your gift certificate simply type in your desired name and press search to see if it's available.

Ideas to get you started are as follows: - (all were available at time of going to press)

www.into2004.biz

www.launch2004.info

www.christmaslistonline.com

www.fairytimeonline.co.uk

www.mychristmas.me.uk

www.christmasfairy.co.uk

www.santa-home.co.uk

www.santa-shop.co.uk

Rumbled!

Top 10 excuses for late payment.

1. "Haven't received the invoice" - lost in the Christmas post
2. "No order number or proof of delivery to match the invoice"
3. "Too busy currently to deal with it"
4. "The relevant person is not available"
5. "The computer is down"
6. "We only pay the original invoice"
7. "Our payment terms are 30 days" - or more
8. "You've missed the payment run and will have to wait until next month"
9. "There are no cheque signatories available"
10. "The cheque is in the post"

Asking for the relevant persons name, and availability and faxing oremailing a new invoice for their attention can combat all of these problems. Don't be put off by excuses!

Christmas Bonus Time?

It's that time of year when employers across the country are thinking of booking or running a Christmas party and also possibly boosting the December pay packet with a seasonal bonus.

Tough economic conditions mean that small business bosses are thinking up cost-effective ways of saying 'thank you' to top performing staff.

A new poll shows that managers understand the need to reward employees to keep up enthusiasm and morale, but can't afford to splash out on expensive cash awards.

More than a quarter of the 400 respondents to the poll believe that a simple pat on the back or saying 'thank you' is reward enough for good work.

Other cost effective bonuses included additional holiday, used by 13% of respondents, and flexible working conditions, favoured by 12% of small business managers answering the poll.

Meanwhile, 12% claimed that a good old knees-up on the town was the best way of congratulating workers.

Other ideas include giving employees ½ a day off for Christmas shopping or duvet days to stamp out "sick days".

Maybe this year rewarding employees with extra holiday or extra benefits will be an equally welcome reward!

What would you do if you can't access the Internet?

The wonderful world of the web is well just that but what happens when you can't access your favourite sites, send or receive email or get news updates every hour of the day??

There may be no warning sign when the Internet might fail to work. It could happen day or night, leaving you feeling as though you have been cut off from the outside world. It is said that a week without email is as traumatic as moving house!

It is therefore important to know what the emergency procedure is. As important as knowing where your nearest fire exit is. Do you have a contingency plan for just such an emergency? Here are a few key points which could act as your survival guide in emergency.

1. Panic!
   
   An excited, agitated state will give you that heightened sense of awareness and will increase your thought processes allowing you to come up with rational solutions. Panic is just nature's way of putting your body into over-drive. It's a defence mechanism that gives you an edge when dealing with potentially harmful situations, such as a severed arm or the loss of your Internet.



2. Power
   
   Check that the office still has power. One way of checking this is to see if the lights are still on or the photocopier or fax machine still works. If you still have power then at least its only your Internet connection that is down.

3. Find A Telephone
   
   Do you have access to a telephone line? Firstly check you have a dial tone as if you're phone line is out this may be the reason you can't access the web. Use your telephone to call your colleagues or friends (if they're not in the same room) to see if their connection is also down, as you will have lost the ability to send an email or an instant message.

4. Back-Up Your Computer
   
   It's important to back up your work on a regular basis. Now is as good a time as any. If your internet connection is down this could be the first of many things that goes wrong with your computer. If you back up your work you can always install it on a new purchase. Otherwise you may end up losing a lot more that just you connection!!.



5. Read
   
   If the information you need can't be accessed at the touch of a button via the Internet resort to alternative methods. You might find that READING a book, report or paperwork has the answer until your power is back and your connection is restored. If reading is not an option as a last resort, you may wish to try doing "chores," or non Internet related jobs. These include photocopying or even making a cup of tea or at least collecting them from the machine.



6. Go Outside
   
   The idea of leaving your workstation may seem a little extreme, but you could make contact with others - beware that this will involve talking rather than typing but the time may afford an effective distraction from your Internet woes.

Hopefully some of these Internet alternatives will be able to assist you during an offline crisis. Alternatively you could just phone your Internet Service Provider ISP i.e AOL, Tiscali, Demon or Freeserve they should be able to advise you of any problems and assist you with reconnection. Remember your ISP is different from your domain name provider. You will not be able to send or receive email if you have no connection to the Internet.

Is Christmas a Festive Pest or a blessing?

Will you be taking a break this Christmas or are you frightened of missing out on seasonal trading? Many firms are claiming that they will not be taking a big break this year as consumers expect them to stay open for convenience and necessity.

Many businesses are reluctant to shutdown completely over the festive period as they see the event as a disruption to the working week that will mean they miss out on big Christmas bucks.

Research shows that 42% of bosses take just two weeks holiday or less a year and that 41% work weekends to keep the business accessible for custom - a sure sign that many will also work through much of Christmas.

Pubs, hotels and shops are most likely to work the entire period to capitalise on seasonal trade. Businesses such as hotels and guesthouses, pubs and shops will obviously be extremely busy over Christmas.

Staff however, may not be as keen to work all hours. Although with consumer spending on the rise the "price of Christmas" may encourage some to look at extra earning power (overtime) and longer hours.

Your home may be at risk

Two thirds of those who work from home are not properly insured according to a recent survey by Norwich Union. Those that do not currently have separate business insurance are operating under the misconception that their home contents insurance policy covers their work practices. An additional 41% claim that they also don't have any public liability insurance, an essential policy if clients come to visit their home. The survey also showed that 47% of home workers put in more that 45 hours per week and over ¾ work at weekends.

Update your listings

It is obviously important to keep up to date with your subscriptions to services including your domain name renewal date.

However some of our customers have been targeted by email fraud asking them to update a bogus listing. The email asks the recipient to check the listings before a certain date and then once you access the site it will charge you for the listing.

If you are asked by www.top-sites.net to update your listing which you are not aware of creating then you may find yourself with a hefty bill just for visiting their website.

If you receive a message similar to the one below sent to an LCN customer be very careful. Visiting the link may be deemed as showing interest in the listing.

"Could you please be so kind as to check your xxxxx.net listing, if you don't mind, at:
http://top--sites.net/update.htm?d=xxxxxy.net&v=11223&e=i

• We can only list you if you click the update button by Sunday (even if your listing is fine).
• Your updated listing will also appear to the left of Yahoo, MSN, Google, Go, AOL, Netscape, Lycos, AltaVista, and Excite searches by AutoSearch users in Internet Explorer's Search window.
• P.S. Please also review our translations of your website into seven languages. And don't miss our reports on your website's popularity and your server's uptime"

Please do not reply directly to this newsletter. If you would like to receive previous issues please email feedback\@lcn.biz

This newsletter may be freely redistributed by email in its unedited form. Please do share it with others.

LCN would like to thank you in advance for your continued support.

Kind regards

The LCN Team