It may seem like an oxymoron, but why would you need to create a filing systems for your online business? "Online" somehow suggests that nothing is offline. If ever there was a case for a paperless office, a business that is entirely on the Internet seems like the ideal case. Is it?

Let me ask you something: What would happen if you lost your internet connection? You say that that couldn't possibly happen. You have guarantees with your supplier. You have a dedicated line. Your signal arrives via fiber optics. Or maybe you get it by satellite.

There are no end of ways that you could lose your connection completely, and you need to think about what you'd do if that happened.

There could be a brown-out. That's journalist-speak for a widespread loss of electricity. It's not uncommon in some parts of the world for thunderstorms to knock out the power, snow or ice to start pulling down power lines.

A heat wave could cause you to lose your electricity. When everyone starts running their air conditioners, that puts a huge strain on the electricity grid. In Britain, there used to be a noticeable dip in the nationwide electricity supplies when everyone made a cup of tea. It's true.

Another way you could lose your connection is if your ISP was hacked. Big sites have this happen all the time. There are numerous rogue programmers who like nothing better than to break into the most high profile sites; and some of them, who have an axe to grind find themselves at the mercy of a group of people who are determined to crash the site. The entire anti-virus industry, by-the-way, began as a result of malicious programs roaming around the Internet.

Or, may be a careless workman cuts your line while digging up something else. Less frequent, thankfully; but it happens. I can remember a time when an underwater cable across the Mediterranean, I think, was cut in half. It was weeks before the Internet was available for thousands of people.

Another possibility is sunspots. These are known to disrupt communications. Atmospheric disturbances can occur for no apparent reason, too. It just isn't possible to know.

And if you just happen to have all of your computer files, you know, the ones that you used to back up onto the hard drive on your desk, in an Internet cloud, then you're at risk of not being able to access anything.

Let's face it: There are probably hundreds of thousands of businesses already online. So, is it really possible to offer unique value in your online business? Probably not. But, that's actually the wrong question, and this is where a lot of gurus get it wrong.

How often have you heard some self-proclaimed expert come along and tell you that you have to offer unique value - that you have to differentiate yourself enough from everyone else who has a business online? And you sit there thinking that you have no idea how to do that.

I can tell you that I've heard it the same assertion and read it a lot. And I, too, have wondered how to do it. But I realized not long ago that this is all nonsense. There are only so many ways to differentiate yourself from a competitor. So obviously this is not the way to approach the problem. So what is?

Actually, it's not quite so complicated once you ask the right question, and that's the key.

The wrong question is "How do I offer unique value?" Or to be more precise, "How can I be different from everyone else?" The right question, instead, is "What can I do to make what I offer better than my competitors?" How can I offer more value than my competitors?

And, of course, the bar is always being raised. But, if you offer a better product or service, then you'll be different, but for all of the right reasons.

And it gets better. You're not competing with the hundreds of thousands of businesses online. You're not even competing with all of the businesses in your niche? Why? Because your prospects won't be able to see all of them in the time he or she has available to search the Web, never mind see them side-by-side. That means that as long as they can find you, you'll will have the opportunity to present your products or services without others encroaching on what you have to say.

A lot of online business people, through the incorrect advice that's floating around out there, worry more about offering multiple bonuses, for example, or a similar product with a few less features for less money than they do about creating quality. In other words, they attempt to make themselves different from their competitors by either offering a lot of extra free stuff, which often are products no one wants anyway, or by making less value available to their customers.

I Hate Writing Articles - Isn't There An Easier Way?!

Owning, running and maintaining an internet based business or a site needs articles. Plain and simple, every who has a site knows this. Even those who don’t have sites but are frequent internet users knows this as well. Articles quench the thirst for information and knowledge of the people. Plus, the articles provides many other benefits for the site.

The benefits that articles provide are putting a site high in the ranking in search results of keywords and keyword phrases that pertains or are relevant to his or her site. They also provide attraction to website visitors when they are appreciated and is linked to your site from another site or newsletter. Articles provide for the increase of the confidence and trust levels of customers to your site and company.

Many articles are also beneficial to both company and its traffic. When the readers like the articles, they would tell more of their friends, family and peers and recommend your site to them, providing for a larger volume of traffic. You get bigger sales if your traffic trusts and believes in you. Your product or services would be much easier to sell when they know you know what you are doing and talking about.

So ok, we have established that articles are very important to a site and to business. Articles are crucial and to keep ahead in the game, a site must have an article, it is imperative. There is one dilemma though, not many people like writing articles.

Many website owners would rather spend their time on something else, and unless you’re a big time company, you don’t have the necessary resources to use on a pool of article writers. Plagiarism or copying of other articles is frowned upon and could easily get you into trouble, worst case scenario; a hefty fine and jail time.

So what are the other options?

Well, for starters if you hate writing articles and you can’t afford to hire people to write for you then don’t. Get free articles. The first place to look at for free articles is the public domain. Here you won’t have problems with copyright infringement and the following penalties and fines if you get caught for plagiarism.

Public domain articles are articles freely given to the public for public use. You can do whatever you want with it. You can place it on your site, name it as yours, put it in a newsletter its you decision. Always remember though that you will have to choose articles that is very relevant to your site.

The downside to public domain articles is that since it is free for everybody, many of your competitors may have access to them as well. Since every site needs to be original and unique even though you have the same niche, this could be a predicament. You may also have to edit them a bit to place more keywords and keyword phrases to make them better.

Another way to get free articles is to allow other sites which has the same subject or topic as yours to submit articles to your site. This would be only to augment your existing content or else all your articles would be leading to other sites since these articles would have resource boxes with them that could link or direct the readers to their site. That’s why it is important to have your own articles; you cold use them to link your site to other sites as well.

But, to truly feel the impact of what a good article to you, go for original ones. There are many article writers who do part time and freelance article writing jobs that charges only minimal fees. You can get good articles that have all the keywords and keyword phrases you need and people are looking for.

The investment you made for these articles would be worthwhile because you could use them for all the benefits you could offer. You hold copyrights to them and you will be able to use them anyway you want. As your articles help you in building your business and your site, you will have more articles to write and maybe then you wont be having second thoughts about articles.